The war of words between Trinamool Congress and BJP gets murkier as West Bengal heads for Legislative Assembly elections later in the year. Days after Mamata Banerjee termed BJP as the ‘Bharatiya Junk Party’, Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swaroop Shukla Sunday called the West Bengal CM a complete ‘Bangladeshi’ and the biggest threat to the nation.
https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1350827865651126272?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwShukla, who holds the MoS for Parliamentary Affairs portfolio in Yogi Adityanath’s Cabinet, while speaking in Balia yesterday said that Mamata Banerjee will have to take refuge in Bangladesh after her party loses the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Mamata Banerjee working at the behest of Islamic terrorists of Bangladesh: UP minister
He accused Mamata Banerjee of acting at the behest of Islamic terrorists of Bangladesh. “She does not believe in Bharat or Bharatiyata (India or Indianess), she has worked to break the temples and insult gods and goddesses in West Bengal. Does not allow Hindus to celebrate their festivals. Gives citizenship to Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims. She is acting at the behest of Islamic terrorists of Bangladesh and will have to go an take refuge there after her poll defeat. Mamata Banerjee has become the biggest threat to the nation and as a result, her own party workers are disowning her and defecting to BJP, said the Uttar Pradesh Minister.
The Assembly polls in West Bengal are due to be held in April-May later this year. The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal faces a strong challenge in the upcoming assembly election from the BJP which made successful inroads in the state winning 18 of the state’s 42 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Political strategists say that the assembly and civic polls will perhaps be Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s toughest challenge to retain her citadel.
Mamata Banerjee decides to contest polls from Nandigram
Yesterday, the TMC supremo officially declared war against the saffron party as she announced to take her battle for West Bengal to Nandigram- the home turf of the former TMC stalwart Suvendu Adhikari. “I have always started my campaign for the assembly polls from Nandigram. It is a lucky place for me. So this time I feel that I should contest the assembly polls from here,” Banerjee said, addressing a public meeting in the town for the first time in five years.
Banerjee is at present the MLA from Bhawanipore in south Kolkata.
The Chief Minister’s return to Nandigram is being seen as a direct challenge to Suvendu Adhikari, who had led an exodus of Trinamool leaders to the BJP over the past few weeks. Over 40 Trinamool Congress leaders joined Adhikari as he defected to the BJP in a mega rally in December in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Bring it on, says political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari
Responding to Mamata Banerjee’s dramatic declaration, Suvendu Adhikari, who had registered an emphatic win from Nandigram seat in West Bengal elections 2016 as a TMC candidate, turned the match on by accepting Mamata Banerjee’s challenge. “If I can’t defeat her by half lakh votes, I will quit politics,” he declared in Kolkata.