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Declaring that the BJP will win 30 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday slammed the Trinamool Congress over the Sandeshkhali issue.
“Even if those who committed atrocities in Sandeshkhali hide in the abyss, we will put them behind bars,” the Home Minister said while campaigning in West Bengal.
The Home Minister said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should make it clear whether Sheikh Shahjahan, the prime accused in the Sandeshkhali incident, was guilty or not. Mr. Shahjahan and other accused in the case are in the custody of central investigating agencies.
Mr. Shah, who held a roadshow in Krishnanagar and a public meeting in Bardhaman, said Ms. Banerjee tried to shield the accused in Sandeshkhali, including Mr. Shahjahan. “Mamata Banerjee will have to go (out of power) from West Bengal. Nobody can save her,” the Home Minister said.
The Chief Minister retorted by saying that she will remain in the State and “nobody can even touch my hair”.
The allegations of sexual assault by the women in Sandeshkhali have been at the centre of the BJP’s campaign but recently the Trinamool Congress released a video on social media claiming that the episode was a “conspiracy” by the BJP to defame West Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Ms. Banerjee upped her ante against the BJP on Monday and said, “You (BJP) have heaped disrespect, indignity on crores of mothers and sisters of Bengal. You offered them money to level charges. You should be ashamed of such an act.”
Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee targeted the BJP over the purported video of a local BJP worker alleging conspiracy at the behest of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. “The message from Sandeshkhali is that the game of BJP in Bengal is over,” he said.
The BJP has fielded a woman from Sandeshkhali, Rekha Patra, as its candidate from the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised the issue of Sandeshkhali several times and alleged that the Trinamool was trying to shield culprits.
Mamata’s politics dirty, says Governor
In another development, the State’s Governor C. V. Ananda Bose, against whom allegations of sexual harassment have been levelled by a Raj Bhawan staff, targeted the Chief Minister saying her “politics is dirty”.
“Mamata Banerjee’s politics is dirty. Still, I will pray to God to save her, but this is difficult even for God. I will never accept this ‘didigiri’ in the distinguished office of the Governor. That is all I have to say,” Mr. Bose told journalists.
The Governor said the remarks were directed at the politician Mamata Banerjee whom he had earlier addressed as her “esteemed constitutional colleague”.
