Mamata Banerjee: election pledges
IANS/Canning (West Bengal)

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee yesterday accused the CPI-M, which leads the state’s Left Front government, of forging an underhand deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to divide opposition votes.
Addressing an election rally at Canning in North 24 Parganas, Banerjee said: “The CPI-M has made a deal with the BJP to divide the votes. They summon the BJP in every election so that it may cut the votes of the Trinamool.”
Banerjee also announced that if her party came to power, it will release all the political prisoners who are “languishing in various jails for nothing”. “The CPI-M has put behind bars all those who dare to oppose their atrocities. The administration has falsely charged many people. We will free all them when we come to power.”
Calling for change, she quipped: “Mausam badlaey, duniya badlaey, CPI-Mer sarkar badlaey na kano? (Seasons change, the world changes. Why doesn’t the CPI-M government change?)”
Earlier, the Trinamool Congress claimed that the CPI-M had insulted the national emblem by collecting money from the public on coupons bearing the Ashok Chakra.
“We want to show these coupons which they (CPI-M) have used to collect money from the public. The coupons have the Ashok Chakra inscribed on them. They should be immediately arrested for wrongly using the national emblem for their personal gain,” said Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee, brandishing some of the said coupons.
Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, meanwhile, accused state Housing Minister Gautam Deb of arbitrarily allotting prime plots of land in the satellite township of Rajarhat.
“Gautam Deb has distributed 600 plots of land under the Hidco (Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation) project without following proper procedures. The allotment was made without any advertising and done after the announcement of poll dates. This is blatant misuse of power.
“Deb has collected over Rs200cr in lieu of these allotments. He is a criminal. He should be immediately arrested,” said Banerjee.
He added that if the Trinamool comes to the power, it will probe the matter and the allotments might be cancelled.