Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Wednesday accused Trinamool Congress workers of vandalising the statue of 19th-Century Bengali writer and philosopher Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Kolkata the day before, PTI reported

“We condemn the incident that happened yesterday,” Adityanath said at a press conference in Kolkata. “Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one of greatest sons of India and a social reformer. It was the TMC that broke his bust, and it is now blaming BJP to divert attention.”

The statue, located near Vidyasagar College, was vandalised after violence broke out during BJP President Amit Shah’s roadshow. The BJP has urged the Election Commission to take action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and bar her from campaigning.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the situation in West Bengal was such that President’s Rule would have to be imposed soon. He also asked the poll panel to take tough action against people behind the violence in the state during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Adityanath said at a rally in Barasat in the outskirts of Kolkata that last year he had told officers in his state to change the timing of the Muharram procession, ANI reported. “In the whole country, Durga Puja and Muharram fell on same day,” he said. “In UP officers asked me, should we change timing of Puja? I said, timing of the Puja won’t be changed, if you want to change timing, change the timing of Muharram procession.”

Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister told PTI in an interview that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would run the country for 25 more years. He claimed that the BJP would win 74 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, and receive a clear majority in the nationwide polls.

Adityanath claimed that socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia had told former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that the leader who would build toilets in every village home and provide fuel would rule for 25 years. “I think there are lot of people who do politics in the name of Dr Lohia but his dream has been fulfilled by Modi,” the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, taking a dig at the Samajwadi Party.

“In these five years, 10 crore toilets were built, 12.5 crore farmers helped under the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, 15 crore young people benefited from the Mudra Yojana and 37 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened,” Adityanath told the news agency. “These are statistics which are not based on caste, region, religion, vote bank or language.”

The BJP leader said he was confident of his party’s victories in the Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Amethi, Azamgarh and Badaun Lok Sabha seats.

The seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections will be held on May 19. The results for every phase will be declared on May 23.