Mamata lashes out at ‘negative publicity’ to Bengal

Kolkata, Nov 24 (IANS) In an apparent attack on her political opponents and a section of the media, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday accused them of trying to harm the state by giving it negative publicity.

“There are some who only give negative publicity to the state to serve their interests. They can’t think positive. This is regrettable. But then, not everybody has a positive outlook. The positive ones are nation builders, job creators. In contrast, those with a negative mindset will fade out,” said Banerjee at an official function here.

Banerjee said the “jealous ones” will continue to be jealous of everything. “Don’t care about them.”

Without naming the opposition, she said: “The competition (in politics) should be based only on performance, development and improvement.”

Banerjee said before she became the chief minister, she found during her frequent visits to Delhi that there was an aversion towards Bengal.

“This was due to the negative publicity about the state. Till date, some are doing that. This is not right. People don’t accept such things. You can have problems with me. But for that you cannot condemn Bengal,” she said while inaugurating the West Bengal State Handloom Fair.

Alleging corruption in the running of various state−run organisations for weavers, handloom and handicraft during the previous Left Front regime, she urged the employees to forget their political affiliation and cooperate with the government in reviving these units.

She said her party did not believe in taking any money from handloom workers. “Some people say lot of things about the Trinamool. But they should know there is no place for greed in our party. My government doesn’t take a single paisa as charge from the craftsmen. Nor does anyone in the Trinamool take bribe.”

Referring to her comments at a gathering of industrialists earlier this month that they should not pay money to any political agents and let the government know if they faced any extortion threats, the chief minister said she had already received some complaints.

“I had given an e−mail ID to the industrialists present in the gathering. I have got some complaints. We are looking into them and take steps wherever needed,” she said.

IANS 2012-11-24 19:50:05