'BJP's game over, Tripura will be controlled by its people'

Kolkata: Urging the people of Tripura to cast their franchise for Trinamool Congress (TMC), party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said Tripura would not be controlled from Delhi but by the people of Tripura as the saffron camp's boat had already sunk in the north-eastern state.

Collating the BJP with a virus, Banerjee said that the "BJP is a virus and TMC is the vaccine".

Addressing a massive gathering Abhishek urged the people of Tripura to cast their vote for TMC in the by-election to put an end to the corrupt and inefficient rule of the BJP-led state government and in one breath said in the 2023 Assembly election the voters would oust the BJP government.

Banerjee said: "We will bring a change in Tripura. BJP's boat has already sunk, now no use changing the boatman (referring to the recent change of the Tripura CM) for BJP khela Sesh (game is over) in Tripura".

He was addressing the gathering after a road show, which started from Gandhi Ghat and ended at GB Bazar covering a distance of 6km. The by-election in four Assembly constituencies, namely, Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma and Jubarajnagar will be held on June 23. Banerjee will again go to Tripura on June 20.

Banerjee said as BJP was mortally scared of TMC, they had changed Chief Minister Biplab Deb and got him replaced by Dr Manik Saha when the Assembly election was knocking at the door. "One Manik (Manik Sarkar of CPI-M) had ruled Tripura for 25 years, Biplab Deb had ruled for nearly four-and-a-half years and now another Manik. It is nothing but old wine in a new bottle."

He maintained that no development had been carried out in the state since the BJP came to power in 2018. "The law and order has deteriorated coupled with mounting unemployment. The infrastructure in the hospital is pathetic and if there is rain the roads look like the sea," he said, adding "the people who had voted for the BJP to replace CPI(M) in 2018 were paying a heavy price. The life of people has turned from bad to worse with the skyrocketing price of cooking gas, petrol, diesel and life-saving drugs."

The national general secretary of Trinamool said like in Tripura the CPI(M) had ruined Bengal during its 34 years of misrule.

After that, Mamata Banerjee took over and in the past 10 years, remarkable development had taken place in Bengal. "Similar development will take place in Tripura. There will be initiatives like Duare Sarkar, Lakshmir Bhandar and Kanyashree," he remarked.

He urged people to come out of their homes and vote for Trinamool brushing aside fear. "During the civic election, the anti-socials owing allegiance to the BJP did not allow people to vote. Now the BJP will give money to the people to cast their vote in BJP's favour. Take the money and vote for Trinamool."Trinamool Congress leaders, including Rajib Banerjee, Kunal Ghosh, Sayoni Ghosh and Golam Rabbani, were present in the road show.

The TMC later tweeted: "Massive support witnessed at Shri @abhishekaitc's roadshow! People of Tripura have been TORMENTED under@BJP4Tripura but not anymore! The change they're seeking is here!"

Meanwhile, CBI officials visited Banerjee's house in South Kolkata and interrogated his wife Rujira for about seven hours in connection with the alleged coal scam case.

In response, Abhishek tweeted: "CBI chose this day for interrogation because they didn't want me to come here! But no force can stop us! We don't want DUARE GUNDA, we want DUARE SARKAR! Tripura will not be controlled from Delhi but by Tripura's people!"

Trinamool Congress also tweeted: "Political witch-hunt by the Centre is shameful! Minutes after our National General Secretary @abhishekaitc lands in Agartala, 'remote controlled' CBI springs into action. Your fear is evident @BJP4India, but we won't back down!"

Banerjee said he would never bow down to any pressure that had been unleashed by the CBI. "The BJP has ED and CBI and they let them loose to scare the opposition parties, but we have people with us," he said. Banerjee said he was asked by the CBI twice in Delhi and interrogated him.

"I had visited the CBI office twice in Delhi and gave answers to all their questions. This is nothing by terror tactics of the BJP," he remarked