Oppn’s dirty tricks won’t work, asserts Mamata

She added that her party was keeping  tabs on the whole situation and would file a defamation case against the news portal involved in the operation.

Banerjee was addressing an election rally at Kurseong Tuesday afternoon, from where former Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) MLA Shanta Chetri will be contesting on a Trinamool ticket. She said instead of conducting a probe against her party, investigation should be conducted into how an unregistered agency could gather so much money and who had given them the money to blackmail some leaders of her party.

She said in national politics no party was as honest and transparent as the Trinamool. She added that the party was immensely popular in West Bengal and, after failing to counter them politically, the Opposition had united in spreading canards against the Trinamool. “But the people of Bengal have seen Trinamool from close quarters and will support it,” Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister said support of the common people was Trinamool’s greatest strength. “Trinamool Congress is of the poor, for the poor and by the poor, and the party will continue to help the poor and the needy and will try to improve their financial condition.”

Banerjee said that in the 2016 Assembly election, the main issue was development. She said in the past four and a half years, she had visited Kurseong and Darjeeling once every three months to ensure that development took place and people, irrespective of their political affiliation, benefitted from the schemes undertaken for their development. She said that the state government had created a fund of Rs 100 crore to give assistance to the workers of closed tea units.

“Medical assistance has been made free and fair price shops have been opened. Under the Khadyasathi project, rice is provided to the poor at Rs 2 per kg. In the education sector, polytechnic colleges have been set up in the hills. In the past four and a half years, comprehensive development has taken place. It is because of this the opposition are jealous of Trinamool and have unleashed their dirty tricks department against us,” she said.