State police is capable of conducting polls: Subrata Mukherjee

Kolkata: Rejecting the Opposition parties’ chorus for Central paramilitary forces’ deployment during the panchayat elections, state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee on Friday reposed his faith in the capability of the state police force for security. 

According to him, the Central forces’ deployment would only incur expenditure of the state government rather than serving any purpose.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, warned that the state police would suffer.

Describing the Central forces’ deployment as “unnecessary” Mr Mukherjee said at the state secretariat: Nabanna, “The state police is enough for the panchayat elections. Nothing else is required. It is the expenditure which becomes bigger than the politics if the central forces are deployed. We give an estimate of expenditure to the election commissioner. It happens through my department. That expenditure would increase unnecessarily if the central forces are deployed.”

He underlined that the Central forces are suited for the Lok Sabha elections’ security. Brushing aside the Opposition parties’ allegations of attacks on their candidates by the Trinamul Congress workers Mr Mukherjee wondered, “If we prevented them from filing their nominations, how can the figure of their nominations in the zila parishad seats become higher than that of us? Their claims are basless. They are trying to hog the media’s limelight.” 

On the TMC delegation’s meeting with governor Keshari Nath Tripathi Mr Mukherjee said, “We discussed many issues with the governor for a long time on Thursday. After the discussion with him it did not look like that he want something else. He complained that others are passing his comments outside. What could we tell him after that? If he would have said he had made the comments then we could have convey our reactions. The governor spoke about many good issues.