KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s tweet on Saturday, which said the ruling Trinamool Congress would wrest power in next year’s state Assembly polls, ignited a firestorm of criticism from the Opposition parties. “In a democracy, people have the final say. Our record on development makes us confident that we will win again in 2016,” she tweeted.
Expectedly,the tweet didn’t go down well with the BJP. Its observer for West Bengal Siddharth Nath Singh said, “I can assure the people of Bengal that the forthcoming Assembly elections will not be conducted by the state Election Commission with the state police, but it will be held by the Election Commission with the help of paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair polls.”
“Mamata’s political tradition is of violence and terror and that will not work during the Assembly polls scheduled for next year. People will again vote for a change and oust her from power,” he added. The Congress, meanwhile latched onto the development plank to attack the TMC Government. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury MP questioned the Chief Minister’s claim about development and asked, “What exactly does development mean in her dictionary? Does it mean the ‘glorious’ period of last four years, which witnessed only rapes, murders, attacks on policemen and reign of terror by TMC musclemen?”
He, further, said, “She will try to prostrate before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and try to enter into a bargain, and win the polls with muscle power and misusing the police like the CPM used to do. But, people of Bengal will certainly send the TMC packing from the state.” The CPM, which believed that Mamata would advance the date of the elections, felt vindicated and said her latest tweet was meant to inspire the TMC cadre to gear up for the Assembly polls. It, however, rebutted the Chief Minister’s claims on development.
“By development, she probably meant the government funds spent as doles to criminals and through which she had enforced a reign of musclemen. In a state, where industries are closing down, workers losing their jobs and farmers committing suicides, where is the development? She hasn’t even implemented any of the promised projects,” said CPM PolitBuro member and Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Salim.