E-Paper
BJP may cause trouble: Abhishek Banerjee to TMC workers ahead of KMC polls
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee also warned the Trinamool activists and leaders of strict action if they are found using “unfair means” for personal gains.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday asked his party’s workers to “be alert” and keep their “eyes and ears open”, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may try to cause trouble during Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections on December 19.
“We have information that the BJP will foment trouble in five or six wards. If the BJP tries to instigate trouble, we will have to resist such bids,” the Diamond Harbour MP was quoted as saying by PTI.
Abhishek also warned his party’s activists and leaders of strict action if they are found using “unfair means” for personal gains.
“If anyone shows ‘dadagiri’ (high-handedness), he will be expelled from the party after 24 hours,” the nephew of TMC supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, said while addressing a meeting after a roadshow in south Kolkata.
Calling senior leaders of the BJP, who made multiple visits to West Bengal before the assembly elections earlier this year, as “bahiragato” (outsiders), Abhishek said they only “peddled lies” about the state and contributed to the rising cases of Covid-19 in the region.
“People rejected leaders like Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who had spread canards about the state. See for yourself the situation in UP, where a Union minister's son mows down agitating farmers with his car. Do you want such a situation in Bengal?” he asked the crowd during the roadshow.
Also Read | UNESCO recognition for Kolkata’s Durga Puja triggers slugfest between TMC, BJP
The TMC MP was referring to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh in which Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son, Ashish Mishra, has been named as one of the accused.
Challenging the BJP to an open debate with him on the matter of West Bengal's development, Abhishek said the party has “no suggestion” to offer and only “uses religion” to gain votes.
“In two years, Kolkata will become the ‘number one city’ in the country on development parameters,” the TMC MP said, urging people not to vote for them in the Lok Sabha polls, if the ruling party fails to live up to their expectations.
The BJP, which is also contesting all the 144 seats in the KMC elections, filed a petition to stay the voting to be held on December 19. However, the division bench of the Calcutta high court dismissed the party’s petition.
The BJP’s state unit also moved the high court, seeking deployment of the central armed police force (CAPF), but that was too turned down on Friday.
