The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should resign as the state has become a “hotbed of political killings” under her rule, PTI reported. The statement came after the Trinamool Congress chief called the BJP a “militant organisation” that divides people along religious lines.

BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is also in charge of the party’s activities in West Bengal, asked who Banerjee was to give the saffron party a “character certificate”. “Rather than casting aspersions, she should look at the fact that today the state has become a hotbed of political killings. She should step down on moral grounds,” Vijayvargiya said. The BJP also accused Banerjee of being a “champion of appeasement politics”.

Several workers of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress have died in the state in the past few weeks, with the violence escalating in the run-up to panchayat elections in mid-May.

“There is total anarchy and lawlessness in the state under her rule,” said Vijayvargiya, adding that the people of the state will “teach her a lesson” in the next election. For the first time in years, the BJP has been elected to gram panchayats in every district of the state. The BJP’s vote share also rose during the Maheshtala Assembly bye-polls in May.

Another BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also levelled similar allegations against Banerjee. He said the TMC was a “heaven for anarchists”. “As a result there is no law and order in the state,” said Naqvi. “It is in complete chaos. So first get your house in order, then talk about others.”