West Bengal CM attacks Opposition at mega rally

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee participates in an election rally from Jadavpur to Gariahat in Kolkata with other ministers on Thursday, the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase of the West Bengal Assembly election. (Photo: Abhijit Mukherjee)

West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday led a maha michhil (mega rally ) from Sukanta Setu in Jadavpur to Gariahat and then followed it up with another short padyatra from Beltala to Hazra that falls under her Bhowanipore constituency.

This was her last campaign road show in the city in this election. Kolkata, along with South 24 Parganas and Hooghly, goes to polls on Saturday with campaigning ending on Thursday.

Ms Banerjee’s marathon rally was a reply to the rally which former chief minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had led on April 19 in the same region to seek votes for the alliance candidates.

Urging the voters of Kasba, Rashbehari, Tollygunge, Jadavpur and Sonarpur to cast their votes in favour of Trinamul’s twin flower symbol, Ms Banerjee said, “Don’t pay heed to slander and canards. They (the Opposition) have no work, therefore they are indulging in slander. Our thinking is positive and constructive which is evident from the all-round development that our government has done in Bengal,” she said.

Ms Banerjee used the huge rally as a platform for Election Commission bashing. She described some strong measures that the EC had taken ahead of the last phase of elections to prevent rigging in North 24 Parganas and Howrah as “Delhi’s atrocities”.

Voicing her strong displeasure over the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC by the Election Commission, Ms Banerjee said, “ Since they (Opposition) are scared that they can’t win, they asked them (EC) to impose curfew. Under such restrictions how can the people move freely and come to the polling booths They have ruined Bengal and they are asking Delhi to impose curfew. People will snatch their own democratic rights,” she added.

Significantly, none of the Trinamul Congress leaders who had been caught on camera taking wads of notes in the Narada sting video, including Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee, was present in Ms Banerjee’s final election rally in Kolkata.