NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee and her poll strategist Prashant Kishore on Tuesday continued with their attacks on the BJP, which has emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling Trinamool in Bengal.
While Mamata accused Amit Shah of "deliberately trying to project a dismal and gloomy picture" of West Bengal, her key aide Prashant Kishore fired another salvo at the BJP asking if its leaders would resign if the party fell short of 200 seats it is claiming it will win in the assembly elections.
Amit Shah, during his recent 2-day visit to the state, had said that West Bengal had fared abysmally on development indices under the Trinamool government.
At a press conference in Bolpur on Sunday, Shah had accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the state of failing to deliver, claiming that West Bengal lags behind most states in the country on various parameters, except on corruption and extortion.
Issuing a point-by-point rebuttal to assertions made by Amit Shah against her dispensation, Mamata cited NCRB data to state that political killings and other crimes have decreased in the last ten years under the TMC rule.
"When the home minister of the country says something, it should be backed by data, facts and figures. Bengal is ahead of other states on all development indices. But Amit Shah ji deliberately tried to depict a gloomy and dismal picture of the state. I was challenged... here is my reply," Banerjee said at a press meet.
Kolkata has twice been accorded the 'safest city' tag in the country, she said.
"According to NCRB data, political killings, other incidents of crime and rape cases have decreased during the TMC rule. BJP leaders, while pointing fingers at others, should also speak up against the Hathras rape-murder incident in Uttar Pradesh," Banerjee added.
Prashant Kishor's dare to BJP leadersAnd while Mamata kept up the attack on Amit Shah, her political advisor Prashant Kishor challenged BJP leaders to say on record that they will quit their positions if the party failed to get 200 seats.
Kishor had on Monday claimed that the BJP will struggle to cross double digits in the West Bengal assembly polls.
The poll strategist is spearheading Mamata's campaign for the assembly elections and his clout within the party affairs has not gone down well with several leaders.
TMC party of opportunists: Suvendu AdhikariSuvendu Adhikari, who recently dumped Mamata to join the BJP, launched another attack on the Trinamool, his party for over two decades.
Suvendu said "opportunist" members of the ruling Trinamool had, in the past, solicited help from the BJP and the Congress for survival, only to ditch them later.
Adhikari, while addressing his first public meeting in East Burdwan after joining the saffron party last Saturday, also labelled the TMC as a "private company", which does not believe in upholding democratic principles.
He underscored that the TMC would not have lasted beyond 2001, had it not taken help from the BJP after coming into existence in 1998.
Making light of his assertion, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the former state minister might have forgotten he was a member of the Mamata Banerjee-led party until recently.
TMC leaders take cut money to dole out central grants, says Dilip Ghosh"Most people did not get houses under the PM's housing project for the poor. A portion of the funds disbursed was pocketed by TMC leaders. Those affected during Cyclone Amphan did not get the Rs-20,000 relief allotted for each family.
"Who got the money? It's the TMC leaders. Didi was complaining of not getting central help after the cyclone, but the fact is that Rs 1500 crore disbursed by the Union government for relief and rehabilitation was not properly utilised," Ghosh said.
(With agency inputs)