Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday criticised the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal’s Purulia district for corruption and lack of development. He said the ruling Trinamool Congress will be punished for 10 years of misrule and politics of appeasement.

The eight-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will start on March 27.

“They [TMC] have given Purulia water scarcity,” the prime minister said at a rally in the Jangalmahal region. “The eight-year-old Purulia piped water supply project is still incomplete, this is how they work. After May 2, when the BJP government is formed in West Bengal, we will build facilities that will stop people from leaving the state in search of opportunities.”

Modi said the Centre has also started work to ensure proper infrastructure and drinking water in every home. “Despite the pandemic, when governments reached out to help citizens across India, but in Bengal cut-money culture and profit from misery continued,” he alleged.

He also used West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “khela hobe [game on]” campaign slogan to attack her. “Khela shesh hobe, vikas aarambh hobe [Now, your game will be over and development will begin],” he said.

Modi also spoke about Banerjee’s leg injury that she sustained while campaigning in Nandigram on March 12. “When didi [a reference to Banerjee] got hurt, I was worried,” he said. “I pray for her quick recovery.”

The Election Commission had on Sunday said that the incident was not a conspiracy and suspended the police officer in-charge of Banerjee’s security.

The prime minister alleged that the Trinamool Congress has never considered Dalits, tribals, and other backward classes as its own. These sections, he claimed, were the worst hit by “cut money culture” and extortion. “The single-most important reason for infiltration is appeasement and vote bank politics being pursued by Didi’s government,” he added.

Referring to a slew of central schemes which the Bengal government is yet to implement, Modi said, “We believe in Direct Benefit Transfer, while TMC believes in Transfer My Commission”.