West Bengal: ‘Too much greed is not good,’ Mamata Banerjee tells Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram
The chief minister is pitted against her former close aide in Nandigram, where polling will be held on April 1.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday took a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari, her former close aide who recently joined the saffron party, and his family, reported ANI.
“Too much greed is not good, they [Adhikaris] will be ‘na ghar ka ghat ka’,” Banerjee said in Nandigram. The Hindi idiom translates to a person who is stuck in the middle and does not belong to either of the sides under consideration.
Banerjee is contesting against Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. Besides Suvendu Adhikari, his father Sisir Adhikari and brother Soumendu Adhikari have also joined the BJP.
On Monday, the chief minister claimed that there was hooliganism in Nandigram and that a Trinamool Congress office was destroyed in Birulia village in the town. “He’s [Suvendu Adhikari] doing whatever he wants,” she said. “I can play games too. I too will respond like [a] lion. I’m [a] royal Bengal tiger.”
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP brought people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to attack her. “No one from Nandigram attacked me but you brought goons from UP, Bihar,” she alleged. “We want a free and fair election.”
The chief minister was injured on March 10 in Nandigram town, in what she alleged was a conspiracy against her. The Election Commission, however, concluded that the chief minister had suffered injuries following an accident due to a security lapse.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee led a footmarch, while in her wheelchair, in Nandigram. In a video, she can be seen greeting crowds as party workers follow her.
Nandigram will go to polls in the second phase of West Bengal elections on April 1. Suvendu Adhikari has claimed that he will defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes, according to the Hindustan Times. The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, has said that Adhikari won the 2016 polls from the seat because of the party and Banerjee.
The first phase of the elections was held on March 27. The state recorded an approximate voter turnout of 79.79%.