'BJP doesn't trust its legislators, unaware how many still with them'

kolkata: Referring to the camping of BJP MLAs in a five-star hotel in New Town ahead of Presidential polls to allegedly avoid cross-voting, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said the BJP leaders in Bengal themselves didn't know about the actual strength of their legislators.

"The worst thing is that the BJP leaders in Bengal, themselves, don't know their strength of MLAs. Some are saying 69, some are saying 70 and others are saying 65. Hence, they have had to put their MLAs in a hotel," he said.

An elected MP from Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency, Abhishek cast his vote for the Presidential elections at the Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday afternoon."They are so apprehensive of the TMC that they are keeping their MLAs confined in a hotel in the fear of cross-voting. We too have more than 10 MLAs in Meghalaya, which is ruled by the NDA. However, we do not need to keep our legislators confined. They know that people of the state are in full support of the Trinamool Congress. Even agencies like ED, CBI, which are acting at their behest, have failed to make any impact. So they are ushering in resort politics in Bengal," he added. A few hours earlier Abhishek lambasted the BJP for their resort politics through his twitter handle. "KARMA has no Menu. YOU GET SERVED WHAT YOU DESERVE. Folks @BJP4India will ALWAYS have to bow to the POWER OF PEOPLE. HILARIOUS to see instead of holding MLAs of other political parties captive, BJP's 'RESORT POLITICS' have backfired on them! Truly, BENGAL SHOWS THE WAY," he tweeted.

Abhishek was referring to BJP's recent move where Shiv Sena MLAs were flown to Assam and kept in a hotel at a time when the state was facing the worst floods. Later, they came back to Maharashtra and voted against the Shiv Sena government to topple Uddhav Thackeray.

"Resort politics is coming to bite BJP in the back. They are scared that their legislators will leave them, and are hence forcing the MLAs to stay in a hotel. It is funny that the MLAs are travelling together in a bus. AITC MLAs and MPs, meanwhile, have come to the Vidhan Sabha of their own free will. Ours is a democratic country, we don't force anyone," he said, adding: "If they can't trust their own people, how can the people of Bengal trust them?"

On the allegations of cross-voting raised by the BJP, Abhishek said: "I fail to understand who is making these claims. There are a few news channels that are running their agendas at the behest of the BJP and are saying whatever they want. Some are saying five MLAs cross-voted, some are saying twelve of them cross-voted." Speaking about revised GST rates, Abhishek said: "It is really unfortunate. On diamonds, you have GST at the rate of 1.5%. Be it price rise or sky-rocketing fuel prices, there is no end to it. We will raise this issue in the Parliament."

On Lulu Mall Controversy in Lucknow, he said: "BJP has not been able to win a single State without dividing the communities in society."

On Amit Malviya's claims that TMC is filing false FIRs against Suvendu Adhikari, he said that the party was free to approach the court if they wanted to.

"Suvendu Adhikari should first try to convince his own brother and father and then spread his wings across Bengal," he added.