Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said her party's alliance with Trinamool Congress in India's West Bengal state packed enough power to unseat the world's longest serving Communist government. We have the power to topple the Left Front government in West Bengal. Gandhi said the state's industrial scenario was bleak and a number of production units were either on the verge of closure or had already shut shop.
Unemployment is on the rise.
The Trinamool Congress, led by the popular leader Mamata Banerjee, is mounting a strong bid to wrest power from the Communists in West Bengal for the first time in years in the May 10 state elections. Banerjee said she was apprehensive that the communists will spread violence in order to obstruct the elections. On Wednesday, two powerful bombs exploded in front of the home of Ajit Panja, a prominent leader of the Trinamool Congress party. Banerjee promised to revive industrial growth in the state and create employment opportunities, provided the administration changed hands. The Trinamool Congress had quit the ruling federal coalition following a recent damaging arms scandal, in which a website showed video footage of senior politicians, bureaucrats and army officials apparently taking bribes.