'Trinamool will win all 4 seats in bypolls'

KOLKATA: Claiming that people in Bengal do not support divisive politics of BJP, Trinamool Congress leader and state Transport minister Firhad Hakim on Sunday said his party would win all four Assembly seats in the forthcoming bypolls with a thumping majority.

Hakim made the statement while addressing a rally at Bandipukur in Khardah in support of TMC candidate Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

By-election in Khardah seat became necessary after Trinamool Congress candidate Kajal Sinha died of Covid before the announcement of the result of the Assembly election on May 2. Sinha had defeated Shilbhadra Dutta of BJP by over 28,000 votes.

Hakim said for generations people belonging to different religions, cultures and speaking different languages had been staying peacefully in Bengal. He alleged that BJP had tried to destroy the social fabric by introducing divisive politics.

"They tried to divide Hindus and Muslims, Bengalis and non-Bengalis, Bengali speaking and Hindi speaking communities. But the communal harmony in Bengal is so strong because of its long heritage that people threw them away. The BJP leaders, who talked about winning 200 seats, had to remain happy with 77 seats," he maintained.

He observed that the BJP had lost its credibility for its anti-people measures. "The lives of common people have become worse due to the anti-people steps taken by BJP. The prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed. The note ban introduced by Narendra Modi affected the Indian economy so badly that the country is yet to recover from the shock."

He said people in Bengal have kept faith in Mamata Banerjee because of her pro-people schemes. "There is not a single family in Bengal which has not been benefitted by the schemes like Swasthya Sathi, Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyasree, Rupasree or student credit card." He urged people to vote for Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay to carry out all round development in the area.