In Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s second visit in two weeks to West Bengal, which was his first election rally, he launched a scathing attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the stage at Haldia in East Midnapore district.
From hitting out at Mamata over his last visit where she walked away from the stage in Victoria Memorial as people chanted Jai Shree Ram slogans to hitting out at her party over corruption charges, PM Modi attempted to strike a chord from the district where Mamata has chosen to contest from in the upcoming assembly elections. “The TMC tolabaz and syndicate are only for few days…parivartan is inevitable this time in Bengal.” Said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“In all these years, politics has been criminalised, corruption institutionalised, and administration and police politicised.” Added the PM. He also said, “Bengal wants to ask Trinamool, those who fired on the people of Nandigram, why is she taking the same people in her party?” Nandigram is former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari’s stronghold who has now switched camp to BJP.
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The PM also launched several key infrastructure projects during his Bengal visit on Sunday, including an LPG import terminal built by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. Mamata however chose to skip the event and be on the same stage as the PM, reportedly over the humiliation suffered at the 125th birth anniversary programme of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Victoria Memorial.
As the assembly elections draw close, the fight between the BJP and Trinamool Congress(TMC) is heating up, with frequent visits by the PM and senior leaders of the BJP to woo Bengal’s voters and take the reins of the state from Mamata’s control.