Udaynarayanpur, West Bengal:
Responding to Home Minister P Chidambaram's attack on the Left Front government in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today held him 'fully responsible' for unrest in Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh and asked him 'to take care of his own business'.
"Chidambaram described us as the worst-governed state, but he should give an account of how the central government is functioning," Bhatacharjee retorted at a Left front election rally here in Howrah district.
"I advise that the doctor should treat himself first and not try to teach us as we are confident of taking care of ourselves," he remarked.
Lashing out at Chidambaram's assessment of the law and order situation in the state, Bhattacharjee said, "It is amazing that he is indifferent to the crime and murder being committed by the Trinamool Congress."
Because of the central government's 'non-functioning', there is unrest in Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh where the Telangana movement is gaining momentum, the chief minister said.
He also lashed out at Chidambaram for 'breaking a Left Front government in Tripura once'.
Expressing his determination to resist Maoists in the state at any cost, he said, "I will like to know from the home minister whether he overlooks the Maoist-Trinamool Congress nexus."
Bhattacharjee claimed that the CPI-M's vote percentage would increase in West Midnapore district as a result of today's Chidambaram-addressed rallies at Garbeta and Keshpur.
Bhattacharjee said the LF has to win this election in the interest of peace and development of the state and to resist the danger to democracy, claiming it has successfully resisted the forces of destabilisation and underdevelopment.
In an apparent counter to the Prime Minister's accusation that West Bengal was lagging in terms of literacy, Bhattacharjee said the state had a literacy rate of 77 per cent.
Saying that the Left Front would strive to develop the state agriculturally and industrially, he pointed out that no amount of obstruction by any opposition party would be tolerated.
He said rice would be given to the poor at Rs two per kg by the government which would launch health insurance scheme for the poor.
"Left Front wants to bring progress further despite the obstacles put up by Trinamool Congress and Congress,'' he said terming their poll alliance as "dangerous".
Bhattacharjee asked the front workers to be careful on the day of election (third phase) 'and not allow the Trinamool Congress to create any violence'.