BJP-led govt focusing only on polls: Mamata Banerjee

Expressing grief over the death of 22 security personnel in the Chhattisgarh Maoist attack, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the ruling BJP at the Centre for concentrating less on the governance of the country and more on the ongoing election in the state. “BJP leaders are coming to Bengal from Delhi and other states. They are focusing only on polls and all the central ministers are camping here while the attack on the security personnel took the lives of so many jawans,” Banerjee said at a rally in Chunchura constituency in Hooghly district on Monday.

She also expressed concern over the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country. In this context, the CM blamed the Election Commission for conducting an eight-phase election in the state. “When Covid numbers are increasing in leaps and bounds, the polls in Bengal are in eight phases. With increasing Covid cases, in Bengal, polls will continue for the whole month, when other states like Tamil Nadu and Assam have three phases,” she said. Banerjee appealed to the people to vote for her All India Trinamool Congress party, adding that the Hooghly district is crucial for its victory in the state.

In the Bhangar constituency in the South 24 Parganas district, where the minority community is predominant, Banerjee urged the minority voters not to cast a single vote for the ISF. “If you are voting for ISF, you will be voting for BJP by mistake. BJP has planted ISF for dividing the minority vote. It had followed a similar strategy in Bihar polls,” she said.