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Mamata Banerjee sharpens attack on BJP; says Shah 'giving instructions' to EC
She was referring to the recent evaluation by the poll regulatory body in which it rejected the allegations of conspiracy over the Nandigram attack.
Mamata Banerjee stepped up her attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday as the campaign for assembly elections in West Bengal intensifies. Addressing a rally in Bankura, Banerjee alleged that the BJP is meddling with the Election Commission and asked if the party is "hatching a conspiracy to kill" her. "They (Election Commission) have even removed my director security," she also said.
She was referring to the recent evaluation by the poll regulatory body in which it rejected the allegations of conspiracy over the Nandigram attack. Banerjee was injured severely in an alleged attack on March 10 when she was campaigning at Nandigram.
On Sunday, the Election Commission suspended Vivek Sahay, Banerjee's director of Security, over the Nandigram incident as some security lapses were found. Along with Sahay, Purba Medinipur’s Superintendent of Police Pravin Prakash and district magistrate Vibhu Goel were also removed from their posts. TMC leaders and Banerjee have termed the attack as a conspiracy to kill her ahead of the elections.
After reviewing reports, prepared by poll observers and West Bengal chief secretary, EC ruled that the incident was not a pre-planned attack, as alleged by the Trinamool Congress leaders and Banerjee, but was an "accident".
Banerjee also accused BJP leader Amit Shah of running the Election Commission and said that "he is giving instructions to the poll panel".
Further targeting the party at the Centre, over the farmers' protest, Banerjee said that farmers have been holding agitation at Delhi borders for over six months now, yet the ministers are not talking to them -- instead, they are in Bengal campaigning for the upcoming assembly polls. "All the ministers are here, in Bengal, where they have booked hotels and conspiring to kill me, destroy TMC and file cases against TMC with the help of EC," she said.
West Bengal will hold elections for its 294-member assembly in eight phases beginning from March 27. The voting will conclude on April 29 and the counting will take place on May 2.
Ahead of the state assembly elections, the tussle between the BJP and Banerjee’s TMC has intensified as the former is hoping to wrest power from the ruling party after emerging as a second-biggest party during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
On Tuesday, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari moved to the Election Commission seeking rejection of Mamata's nomination from Nandigram as he alleged that she did not declare criminal cases against her while filing her papers. "The TMC candidate for the Nandigram assembly constituency, the honourable chief minister, in her affidavit has not mentioned at least six cases which are under trial against her. One is a CBI case and five others are in Assam," Mamata's former ally, BJP's Nandigram candidate Adhikari said, as quoted by ANI.
