What Shah said is baseless, he should first speak on BJP-NIA nexus: TMC
Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Wednesday, said it will bag 30-35 seats in Bengal following the remarks of Union Home minister Amit Shah that if voters give BJP 30 seats it will put an end to cross-border infiltration in the state that is allegedly being encouraged by the Mamata Banerjee-led state government which is misleading people on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) while opposing the court-ordered National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into Bhupatinagar blast.
Shah was campaigning in North Bengal for BJP’s Balurghat candidate Sukanta Majumder. He said: “I have come to tell you that if you make us cross 30 seats and form a BJP government in Bengal, not even a bird will land here crossing the borders and no infiltrator will come in.” He also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for the Sandeshkhali incident alleging that Mamata Banerjee is trying to shield the accused in the Bhupatinagar blast and hence registering cases against NIA officials.
Addressing the media, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said: “Whatever Shah said is baseless and irresponsible. If the election happens today TMC will get 30-35 seats if not more. BJP has no organisation in Bengal but only factional feud. They are missing from the electoral battlefield. Trinamool is instead fighting Central probe agencies in this election rather than BJP candidates. It’s TMC vs central agency. We aim to get 36-37 seats.”
He added: “Shah should first speak on the BJP-NIA nexus. A conspiracy was hatched at his behest. NIA is being sent from Delhi to harass TMC functionaries to keep them out of election. Abhishek Banerjee has exposed this nexus. We want action against NIA officers. Shah needs to say why the BJP leader visited the NIA officer’s residence.”
“We have news that the NIA SP concerned, DR Singh is still in Delhi. Another officer was sent here but these are just cover-ups.
We want action. Shah is doing puppetry using Central probe agencies. He is lying to people. Before the 2021 state elections, he had said BJP would cross 200 seats but could not meet the target. Shah knows BJP workers are frustrated,” Kunal alleged, and claimed that TMC will defeat Sukanta Majumder
in Balurghat.
“For Sandeshkhali, the state government took action but BJP forgot the violence against women in Unnao, Hathras, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur etc. In Bilkis Bano case, the culprits were freed by the BJP,” he said.
Both Kunal and his party colleague Chandrima Bhattacharya criticised PM Modi’s alleged silence on the natural disaster that rocked
North Bengal.
Ghosh also accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP since it is not giving the state government permission to release funds for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims. “We would not have required permission had the Model Code of Conduct not been in place due to the elections,” Kunal said.
