West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party has resorted to “politics of killing” in the state and is now employing central agencies against opposition parties, reported PTI. In the panchayat polls held in May, BJP members conspired with goons who earlier worked for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), she said.

Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress had swept the panchayat elections, winning 73% of the gram panchayat seats, 90% of the panchayat samiti seats, and 99% of the zilla parishad seats. Widespread violence was reported during and after the polls, with at least 24 people dead and dozens injured.

“The BJP had won just a few seats in the panchayat election in the erstwhile Maoist hotbed of Jangalmahal by resorting to politics of killing,” said the Trinamool chief at a rally in Kolkata. “The former CPI(M) goons are now working for them.” She also claimed that the BJP employed central paramilitary forces to exert undue pressure on people to vote for it.

Banerjee claimed the BJP was also misusing central agencies against opposition leaders. “Our motto will be to remove the party from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha election,” she said.

‘Will not allow NRC in Bengal’

Banerjee said the West Bengal government will not allow an exercise of the National Registar of Citizens under any circumstances. “We will not allow NRC exercise in Bengal. They [BJP leaders] are challenging us,” she said. “If we are challenged, we will give them a fitting reply.”

Wrongfully tagging an Indian citizen as a foreigner would not be tolerated in the state, said Banerjee. “We are Bengal tigers, we will not tolerate if an Indian citizen is dubbed a foreigner,” she said.