Kolkata: Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chiefMamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of rigging at 177 of the 294 seats
across the state in the recently concluded Assembly polls.
Addressing the party supporters at a day-long dharna in Kolkata, Banerjee said that she would not abandon them in “these difficult times”. She was referring to large-scale arrests of leaders in the state on allegations of corruption, intimidation, and extortion.
All anti-BJP parties will meet in Delhi: Mamata Banerjee
“Very soon, all anti-BJP parties will meet in Delhi. Wait for a few days, and we will soon announce our country-wide course of action,” the TMC chief said, while referring to an INDIA bloc meeting next week. She reached the dharna site at Esplanade after the TMC’s appeal to hold the protest was turned down by the Kolkata Police.
Taking to X, she said that the sit-in protest was “against post-poll violence, eviction of hawkers without rehabilitation, irregularities/ fraud in the NEET examination, and the vindictive actions of the BJP government”.
“We were not permitted to hold our programme at the place we requested. At the alternative site, the police did not allow us to set up a stage or use microphones,” Banerjee said further as per PTI. “We will move court if other parties are allowed to hold political programmes at the venue where we were denied permission to protest, or if they are allowed to hold meetings with microphones. Law cannot be imposed with discrimination,” she said further.
Mamata slams Kolkata Police
She added, “Those who have arrived here, ignoring police intimidation, should know that the men in uniform are being used by the BJP dispensation to do things they are not supposed to do. Threatening TMC workers is not part of their job profile.”
Mamata Banerjee was accompanied by other leaders of the party, including Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Kalyan Banerjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Dola Sen. “The BJP had smuggled in its workers from before, fed them and even tutored them how to act and talk. Had a TMC worker not supplied Abhishek with a helmet, the injury from the stone hurled at him could have turned fatal,” she went on to allege.
