Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of targeting the “country’s only female chief minister”
New Delhi:
Shortly after the election dates for four states and one Union territory were announced, Mamata Banerjee, furious, alleged that the eight-round vote in Bengal was part of a “conspiracy” by the ruling BJP of the center. “Were the dates of the elections announced in Bengal according to the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” questioned the chief minister.
Bengal will begin voting on March 27, but unlike Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, it will have eight phases spread over a record 33 days before the results on May 2.
The state had voted in seven phases in the 2016 state elections and in the 2019 national polls. The Electoral Commission said the reason for more phases was fear of violence.
“We had an assessment of law and order on various factors. Last time it was seven phases and eight is not a big deal,” Chief Elections Commissioner Sunil Arora told reporters.
Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of dictating the voting schedule, noting that other states with almost the same number of seats were voting in a single day.
“I heard from BJP party sources. Their suggestions and their dates are the same. Why mid-district elections every day? Is this on the advice of Modi and Shah? So they can come and campaign here after ending with Assam? This is a khela (sport). We will defeat them and turn them into ghosts. We are grassroots people ”, he declared.
“I am the daughter of Bengal, I know the state better than the BJP; we will win even in eight phases. I will defeat all their conspiracies … the people of Bengal will respond to this insult.”
He alleged that the constituencies where his Trinamool Congress was strongest had split into multiple rounds of voting.
“There will be a blunder and you will face the music,” he warned, accusing the BJP of targeting the “only female chief minister in the country.”
Around 1,200 central paramilitary troops are on patrol in Bengal, which has experienced an outbreak of political violence and killings in the past two years.
The BJP welcomed the dates. The party has invested a lot to win Bengal, especially after 2019, when it surprised the Trinamool Congress by scoring 18 of the 42 seats in the Lok Sabha.
PM Modi and Amit Shah, in addition to other top BJP leaders, have prioritized Bengal on their campaign schedule. Most of these visits have seen massive defections from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP.
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