KOLKATA: With only four days left before the campaign ends for the first phase of polling on March 27, mercury in West Bengal’s electoral battleground soared up on Monday as heavyweights and star campaigners crisscrossed two south Bengal districts to woo the electorates in favour of their parties.
Union Minister Smriti Irani and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee locked in a war of words while addressing rallies in East Midnapore and Bankura respectively.
Smriti Irani addressed three rallies in the East Midnapore district in which Nandigram constituency. Mamata is contesting against her former aide Suvendu Adhikari in the seat.
The Bengal CM, too, attended three rallies in Bankura district and unleashed a scathing attack on BJP, which emerged as her arch-rival since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Besides, Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee also addressed three rallies in East Midnapore district and held a roadshow in Tamluk. BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh led a roadshow in Dantan, West Midnapore.
Sanyukt Morcha’s Mohammad Salim, the politburo member of the CPI(M) and Indian Secular Front founder Abbas Siddiqui addressed three rallies in West Midnapore
"Khela hobe. Emon khela hobe BJP boundaryir baire giye porbe (there will be a game. It will be such a game that will throw away the BJP out of boundary ine," Mamata hit out at BJP while addressing a rally at Indus, Bankura.
Smriti hit back at Mamata at her rally. "Banglar ghorer meye bairer loker sathe khelche? Uni banglar meyeder sathe, goribder sathe khelchen (Is Bengal’s own daughter playing with outsiders? She is playing with the women and poor people in Bengal), she said in a jibe at the CM’s repeated effort to brand the saffron camp as an outfit of outsiders.
The 'Khela Hobe' slogan coined by the TMC has become the ruling party’s political tool to challenge the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Mamata described the BJP as a "venomous cobra" that will bite if comes to power in Bengal. Branding the Bengal’s ruling party an organisation full of corrupt party leaders, Smriti said, "The TMC’s goons did not even spare the phone towers in their areas. They stole the battery of the towers."
Reminding the promises mentioned in the party manifesto, Mamata said, "Piped drinking water will be supplied to households. More than 70 lakh families have already brought under the state’s drinking water supply scheme."