Mukul Roy leads a rally in front of the State Election Commission office in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Express File Photo: Partha Paul)
BJP leader Mukul Roy on Sunday said the upcoming panchayat elections will mark the beginning of the end of Trinamool Congress rule in the state.
Speaking to mediapersons at Krishnanagar in Nadia, Roy said, “This panchayat poll will mark the beginning of the end of Trinamool Congress in Bengal. After she came to power in 2001, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she will restore democracy in the state. She had said ‘bodla noy, bodol chai’ (we want change, no revenge). But she is doing exactly the opposite in the state. The people of the state have come together to protest against the misrule of TMC.”
The BJP leader also said the widespread violence in the state over filing of nominations broke out after Mamata asked her party workers to make the proceedings Opposition-free.
“She had said she wants to see Opposition-free panchayats. Her ministers and party leaders are saying they need Opposition-free panchayats. I am grateful to my party workers that they fought eye-to-eye with TMC activists and did not leave the ground. I will also appeal to other Opposition candidates who have been attacked to come with us and fight against the TMC. BJP is the only party which can fight against the ruling party,” he said.
Later, Roy met State Election Commissioner A K Singh in Kolkata and apprised him of the present law and order situation in the state.
“TMC workers and goons are creating a reign of terror by blocking 320 BDO offices and around 62 SDO offices in the state. We have come here to register our protest against this,” he said.
28 held in birbhum violence: police
Kolkata: Around 28 people were arrested in connection with Saturday’s violence in Birbhum, police sources said. Bombs were hurled at Mohammad Bazar in Birbhum after a scuffle broke out between TMC and BJP workers. A senior police officer said the arrested persons were produced in a court on Sunday. Of them, 24 people were remanded to jail custody till April 21, while the remaining four were sentenced to two days’ police custody, source said.