EC chalked out seven-phase poll to assist BJP: Mamata

Malda (WB), April 20

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission chalked out seven-phase elections to enable PM Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues to undertake extensive campaigning utilising national resources.

Addressing a public meeting at Gajol in Malda district in support of Maldaha Uttar TMC candidate Prasun Banerjee, Mamata said elections had been scheduled from April 19 to June 1 so that Modi and his cabinet colleagues could travel on special planes across the country before every phase to “overwhelm the Opposition”.

INDIA bloc doesn’t exist in Bengal

The CPM and the Congress are bolstering the BJP in the state, so don’t cast votes for any non-TMC candidate. I coined the name of INDIA bloc. But INDIA bloc does not exist in Bengal. For us, it exists outside the state. — Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister

“On earlier occasions, elections used to be over by May, but this year, the exercise has been extended till June 1 to enable Modi to visit various places on military planes, while we are made to arrange for our own transport, including helicopters, which are also being booked by BJP leaders so that we get little space,” she alleged.

Attacking the BJP and Congress MPs from West Bengal, she alleged that despite being elected from the state in 2019, none of them took up the state’s cause regarding the release of MGNREGA funds by the Centre or building houses for the poor under the PM Awas Yojana.

“On the other hand, our (TMC) MPs were manhandled and arrested when they went to Delhi in November last year to demand the release of MGNREGA funds,” she said.

Banerjee accused the CPM and the Congress of bolstering the BJP in the state and urged people not to cast votes for any non-TMC candidate. “I coined the name of INDIA bloc. But INDIA bloc does not exist in Bengal. For us, it exists outside the state,” she said.

At another public rally in Manikchak in Maldaha Dakshin constituency in support of TMC candidate Shahnawaz Ali Raihan, Mamata flagged the issue of the Uniform Civil Code, accusing the BJP of “plotting to impose UCC by taking away people’s individual rights and liberty”.

“I will oppose the UCC tooth and nail,” she said.