Field Dirs of Central agencies where you failed to name candidates: Abhishek to BJP
Kolkata: Addressing a massive rally Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday added a new dimension in accusing the BJP of unleashing Central agencies in an attempt to stifle the voice of the Opposition by daring the saffron party to field directors of Central agencies in the four Parliamentary constituencies for which it is yet to announce nominees.
Addressing an election meeting under Mathurapur Parliamentary constituency (PC) in South 24-Parganas, he also dared the BJP to introduce Lakshmir Bhandar-like schemes in BJP-ruled states and give at least Rs 1,500 to every family under
the initiative.
He also challenged the Centre to come out with a notification declaring free distribution of LPG among the people of the country for the next five years and claimed his party would withdraw all the 42 candidates contesting in the ensuing
Lok Sabha elections.
Attacking the saffron camp for its failure to field candidates in four Lok Sabha constituencies, he said: “The BJP is not finding any candidate for Diamond Harbour. There are four Lok Sabha seats in which they have not yet announced candidates. I will advise you not to fight hiding behind the clouds. Nominate the directors of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax (I-T), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in these four seats. They have been acting at your be-hest. Let them fight in the field of election rather than hiding behind the cloud like Meghnad (a charac-ter in the epic Ramayana who could fight from behind
the clouds).”
Banerjee, who is an elected MP from Diamond Harbour PC is contesting in the same seat where elec-tions are scheduled to be held on June 1, during the last phase of Lok Sabha elections.
BJP has announced its candidates in 38 out of 42 PCs. Diamond Harbour, Birbhum, Asansol and Jhargram are the four seats for which the saffron party is yet to nominate candidates. Taking pot-shots on Prime Modi, who recently spoke to BJP nominee from Krishnanagar Amrita Roy and told her that he was looking for legal options to return the Rs 3000 crore confiscated by ED in Ben-gal to the poor who paid those bribes, he said: “Dear Modi Ji, how can you distribute the amount of Rs 3000 crores as seized in ED raids, among 140 crore people of India? You know very well this will come down to Rs 21.30 for every citizen when divided among them. This is another jumla ahead of the elec-tions.”
Banerjee added that the Prime Minister had said the same to BJP’s Sandeshkhali candidate Rekha Patra and another party nominee in Tamil Nadu.
In a jibe at state BJP leaders who had promised Rs 3,000 for every poor woman as a monthly allowance if BJP came to power in the state, he said: “I challenge BJP leaders to roll out a scheme like Lakshmir Bhandar in any one of the 17 BJP-ruled states.”
He continued: “Leave alone Rs 3,000, if your government can even manage to provide Rs 1,500 to eve-ry poor woman, I will quit politics.”
BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar had in recent times promised Rs 3,000 as a monthly allowance to every poor woman in the state if the party came to power.
Bengal government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme was launched in February 2021 to provide financial help to women from economically weaker sections.
In this year’s Budget, the assistance for the gen-eral category was increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per month and for SC/ST raised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 which will come into effect from April 1.
The Trinamool MP claimed that the benefits of the scheme have reached at least 2.12 crore women with the state spending Rs 25000 crore every year.
