News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • WB polls: Didi terms poll panel BJP’s parrot

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Welcoming the Madras High Court’s observation that the Election Commission is the “the most irresponsible institution” for the alleged spread of the second wave of coronavirus in the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday once again hit out at the panel for deploying around two lakh central forces personnel in the state for over a month without conducting their Covid-19 tests. 

    She also held the central forces, which were brought from other states, responsible for spreading infection in Bengal.‘’I welcome the Madras High Court observation… The commission has deployed around two lakh central force personnel and none of them went through the RT-PCR test. They are roaming from one place to another and spreading virus in the state,’’ alleged Banerjee.

    She also demanded immediate withdrawal of the central forces from West Bengal. ‘’Do we need such a huge volume of police personnel from outside the state to conduct the polls? Why can’t the panel trust the state police force?’’ she asked.

    The CM also lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly spreading the virus by bringing in his supporters from other states for his election rallies.‘’The commission is nothing but a mirror of the BJP. He (Modi) addressed several rallies where Covid safety protocols were flouted. The BJP brought a countless number of outsiders during the poll campaign that led to the Covid surge,’’ she said.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo said her party had repeatedly requested to club the last three phases of the polling for the safety of the common man. “The elections were over in other states within three phases. What prompted them to conduct the elections in Bengal in eight phases? Despite our several requests, the panel didn’t pay any heed to them. It has become a parrot and a mynah of the BJP,” she alleged.

    Banerjee also castigated the Election Commission’s decision to ban roadshows and public rallies with more than 500 people. “The decision was taken on the same day when Modi cancelled his four public rallies on April 23,” she said.

    ‘What was the need for 8-phase elections?’Mamata said the elections were over in other states within three phases. “What prompted them to conduct the polls in Bengal in eight phases? It has become a parrot and a mynah of the BJP,” she alleged.

  • Mamata welcomes Madras HC order, demands withdrawal of central forces who may be infected with Covid

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded withdrawal of central forces in the next phase of polling in a bid to contain Covid spread in the state, while welcoming Madras High Courts observations that the Election Commission could not avoid blame for the spread of pandemic.

    She also accused the prime minister of insensitivity, alleging “while mass pyres were lit at crematoriums, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy delivering speeches.

    “I welcome the Madras High Court order, which clearly said the EC cannot escape its responsibility. Both Prime Minister Modi and EC are responsible for the (current) situation (of Covid spreading in the state),” Banerjee alleged at a workers meeting in North Kolkata where party candidates and workers were present.

    “While mass pyres were lit at crematoriums, Modi was busy delivering ‘Mann ki baat’ speeches,” the chief minister claimed.

    Earlier on Monday, Madras High Court had lashed out at the Election Commission over the conduct of Assembly polls amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice S Ramamoorthy termed the EC as most irresponsible while hearing a public interest writ seeking directions to ensure fair counting of votes on May 2 in Karur by taking steps to ensure adherence to Covid-19 protocols.

    “I am requesting please withdraw the around 2 lakh- strong central forces drawn from covid-hit states, who are camping in schools and colleges and safe homes hampering covid management operations 75 per cent of them may be infected by the virus. Please withdraw them in the last phase, ” she said.

    Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress will move the Supreme Court after the elections against the EC on the manner in which the body was conducting polls in West Bengal.

    “We will tell Supreme Court. The EC did not club the poll phases despite the spike in Covid-19 cases,” she said.

    The number of confirmed Covid cases in West Bengal has risen from 81,466 on April 1, to over 3.52 lakh on April 25.

    The chief minister claimed BJP influenced the eight- phase vote schedule drawn up by EC and that the schedule was based on the ‘mondals’ (organisational zones earmarked by the saffron party) and not on any rationale.

    “Different areas in Kolkata (alone) went for polls on different dates,” she pointed out.

    “I had to visit North Bengal nine times as adjacent areas went to polls on different days (this was done) to ensure maximum coverage for BJP leaders and to prevent me from campaigning. Kolkata was split into three parts for holding polls in three phases, ” she alleged, adding However, I still managed to campaign for 50 days with my injured leg.

    Flagging an alleged WhatsApp conversation among EC Special Observers and District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police, she said “they are describing TMC as trouble makers and our men as TMC goons. They do not use such epithets about the BJP in the chats.”

    “By nominating some Superintendents of Police close to BJP, the EC might help the BJP to win six-seven more seats than the projected 70, but the Trinamool is set to cross 200 seat mark,” she asserted.

    Banerjee alleged EC has prepared a list as directed by BJP which instructed police to arrest key party members from Entally and Belgachhia areas ahead of the April 29 polls in north Kolkata constituencies and instructed her party functionaries “just refuse to go.”

    “At Raninagar (in Murshidabad district) the (central) force went on a rampage at the residence of our (local) leader. We are lodging an FIR,” she claimed.

    Repeating her charge that the Centre mismanaged the Covid situation, she said “PM and Home Minister literally camped in Bengal for three months and put the looming Covid-19 crisis on the backburner.”

    “They did not firm up a plan to bolster oxygen supply network in those months but spent money from PM Cares fund to bribe people. I was told that some were offered even Rs 25 crore to campaign for BJP,” she alleged.

    “I wonder if the institution (EC) is capable of protecting democracy with retired government servants looking for plum postings as Governors. There has to be people, still in service, at the helm (of EC),” she said.

  • Mamata Banerjee casts vote in Bhabanipur

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday cast her vote at a polling booth in south Kolkata’s Bhabanipur.

    Banerjee, a resident of Harish Chatterjee Street, exercised her franchise at a polling booth in Mitra Institution school around 3.50 pm.

    On a wheelchair, she briefly paused before photojournalists while coming out amid shouts of “Didi, Didi”, before boarding her car.

    She also showed a victory sign towards the cameras.

    Banerjee is a two-term MLA from Bhabanipur, but is contesting the elections this time from Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district, taking on BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

    Earlier in the day, senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, who is the chief minister’s nephew, also voted at the same booth.

    TMC has fielded veteran politician Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay from Bhabanipur against BJP’s celebrity candidate Rudranil Ghosh.

    The Left-led Sanjukta Morcha has fielded Congress’s Md Shadab Khan.

    Bhabanipur was voting in the seventh phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal.

    Polling to the 294-member assembly is being held in eight phases, beginning on March 27.

    The votes will be counted on May 2.

     

  • Nadda accuses Mamata of misleading people on Covid vaccination

    By PTI
    MALDA: BJP president J P Nadda Monday accused Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of misleading people of West Bengal on various issues, ranging from “insider-outsider” to Covid vaccination during the campaigning for the assembly elections in the state.

    Nadda also asserted his party had upheld the culture and legacy of Bengal as against the insulting language adopted by Banerjee against the BJP leadership.

    “During the campaign for the eight-phase elections, which comes to an end on Monday, Mamata Banerjee has made all efforts to mislead the people of Bengal and to instigate them using issues like insider-outsider and culture,” he said addressing a virtual public meeting here.

    The last phase of polling will be held on April 29 and the counting is scheduled for May 2.

    Claiming that BJP has left no stone unturned to reach the message of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee to all corner of the country, he said “it is you who (Banerjee) is the outsider and we who are the true insiders.”

    Banerjee in her speeches has often spoken of `bahiragoto (outsiders) bringing Corona virus to the state.

    Contending that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often spoken of the sweetness of Bengali as a language, Nadda asked “but the language you (Banerjee) use, is that the culture of Bengal?” BJP has earlier too accused the chief minister of using expletives against top BJP leaders including Modi.

    “It is the BJP which has upheld the culture and legacy of Bengal while Mamata Banerjee has insulted the state through her abusive language and arrogance we (BJP) have made our points in a refined manner, in the true tradition of the state,” he said.

    Nadda, a former Union Health Minister, sought to know how the state government is providing daily updates on vaccinations to the Centre if vaccines are not available in West Bengal.

    He said that while on the one hand Banerjee is “making false allegations” on availability of vaccines, on the other she chose to absent herself from meetings convened by the prime minister on the nationwide inoculation programme.

    Accusing the TMC of unleashing violence in the state during the campaign, he condemned the “murderous attack” on BJP candidate from Malda, Gopal Chandra Saha, maintaining that the people will answer “bullets with ballots”.

    Nadda said that Saha, who was shot in the neck on April 18 by unidentified assailants at Malda, is fighting for his life in a hospital.

    He claimed that Malda, popular for its rich harvest of mangoes across the country, is now better known for bomb making and fake currency.

    “Didi has admitted defeat in this election and is expressing her anger violence is being perpetrated by TMC goons on BJP workers and leaders,” Nadda alleged.

    He claimed that the chief minister, who also holds the Health portfolio, is trying to spread panic by alleging that Covid-19 vaccines are not available in the state.

    Nadda said several projects, including railway, road and solar power projects have already been taken up by the Centre for development of the state, and claimed more will follow once the BJP forms a government in West Bengal.

     

  • ‘Mamata government denied people central schemes, misappropriated Rs 5,000 crore’: BJP

    BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya also claimed that assets of a minister in the TMC government have increased exponentially since 2006.

  • Nadda hits out at Mamata for ‘skipping’ PM’s virtual meet with CMs on COVID-19 situation

    By PTI
    MANIKCHAK: BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday slammed Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her persistent attacks on the Centre over the prevailing COVID-19 situation, and sought to know why she chose to skip a virtual meeting where Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed ways to combat the disease.

    He contended that the TMC supremo’s “anxiety has grown manifold”, after having seen the support that is pouring in for the BJP, and the ruling party, for that reason, has “resorted to attacks on saffron party men”.

    Addressing a virtual meeting from Delhi in support of BJP candidate from Malda’s Manikchak seat, where polling is scheduled to be held on April 29, Nadda said, “Why didn’t you (Banerjee) attend meetings convened by the prime minister on COVID-19, is it because of your huge ego?” Modi has also accused Banerjee of not attending meetings called by the Centre on various issues, including the COVID-19 management.

    Banerjee, on the other hand, has claimed that she was not invited to a meeting chaired by the PM a few days ago to discuss modalities to tackle the pandemic.

    Nadda said that the chief minister, who also holds the health portfolio, “claimed that vaccines are not available in Bengal, having forgotten that she deprived the people of the state of many essential facilities over the last 10 years”.

    “If vaccines are not available, how are you (Banerjee) sending updates on the number of doses administered every day to the Union Health ministry?” Nadda stated.

    He further said that members of a central team sent by the Union government to West Bengal last year to review the coronavirus situation were prevented from working freely by the Banerjee-led administration.

    The BJP president hit out at the TMC dispensation, and said the party’s top leaders, fearing that they might lose elections, have “let loose goons to intimidate voters”.

    “Mamata ji claims she is the daughter of the state, but it is under her rule that Sobha Majumdar (a BJP worker’s mother) had to sacrifice her life trying to save her son from goons,” he said, referring to an incident of violence at Nimta in the northern suburbs of the metropolis.

    Asserting that the lawless in Bengal has reached its nadir under the TMC rule, Nadda alleged that the CM has stopped sending crime records of the state to NCRB to “mask the real situation”.

    Bengal tops the chart when it comes to crimes against women, including rapes, he claimed, insisting that a BJP government will ensure women’s security in the state.

    “Extortion rackets, appeasement policies and dictatorship rule the roost in Bengal under the TMC rule,” he said.

    The senior BJP leader, virtually speaking to voters in Burdwan, alleged that Bengal has turned into a backward state under the TMC dispensation “Mamata Banerjee has taken the state back 10 years during her rule,” he said.

    Addressing another virtual meeting for the electorate of Belgachia in north Kolkata, Nadda claimed that TMC workers have earned the sobriquet of “chal chor” (rice thief) during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020 for diverting free ration provided by the Centre.

    “But this time, the free ration announced by the prime minister for May and June will be distributed properly under a BJP government with a son of the soil in the chief minister’s seat,” he said.

    The BJP chief also said Banerjee insulted the culture of Bengal by hurling abuses at the prime minister, Nadda and other senior BJP leaders during her recent speeches.

  • ‘Baseless, false and misleading’: EC trashes Mamata’s allegations of poll body planning arrests against Trinamool workers

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged there were plans to detain her party workers ahead of voting in West Bengal at the instance of poll observers, the Election Commission said no instructions have been issued by any of its officers or observers to act against workers of any political party.

    In a statement, the Commission said a section of the media has reported about “allegations” made the West Bengal Chief Minister that instructions have been given by some ECI officers and observers to arrest “TMC goons”.

    “Such statements supposedly attributed to ECI officers and observers are absolutely baseless, false and misleading. No such instructions have been given by any observer, Chief Electoral Officer or officer of the Commission to act against workers of any party(ies),” the statement said.

    Banerjee had on Saturday alleged that she has come to know that three special observers of the Election Commission have “ordered police officers to detain TMC workers” ahead of the voting exercise, and said that she would move the Supreme Court against this “conspiracy”.

    Banerjee has often accused the Commission of being partisan, a charge rejected by the poll panel.

    While the seventh phase of poll in the state will take place on Monday, the eighth and last phase is on April 29.

    Referring to the TMC leader’s plan to move the court, the EC statement said no court case has so far been reported to the CEO, West Bengal’s office or the Commission “where any instance of preventive action against a non-criminal has come to the notice”.

    “Misleading narratives apart, leave alone any court case, no specific instance of illegal preventive action against any worker of party has been reported till April 25. Conduct of free, fair, intimidation free and violence free election requires close monitoring of all miscreants and history-sheeters who have the potential to vitiate the polls.”

    “Preventive actions under relevant provisions of CrPC, IPC are taken by all law-enforcing agencies to ensure they are prevented from creating any mischief,” the statement said.

    There are standing instructions to law-enforcement agencies of all poll-going states to ensure compilation of list of miscreants based on criminal history, including involvement in election related-crime in the past, it said.

    Action is taken and must be taken against such miscreants who have potential of scaring genuine voters in any manner, the poll panel said.

    District election officers, commissioners of police, SPs, observers, chief electoral officer of the poll-going state and the Commission review and ensure that such lists are compiled timely and acted upon in an impartial manner, the statement noted.

    “Commission or observers, for that matter, convey instructions in such matters through Chief Electoral officer,” it observed.

    The TMC supremo, while addressing party members at an auditorium in Bolpur, Birbhum district, had said she had chanced upon WhatsApp conversations of the special observers.

    “Enough is enough. I don’t have any issue if they (EC observers) work for free and fair elections but they have been working only to help the BJP. They want to finish off Trinamool,” the TMC boss had alleged.

    “These officials are giving orders to detain our men the night before polls and keep them in custody till the next day. I have seen their WhatsApp conversations; they were given to me by a reporter. And it must have originally come from BJP men,” she said, showing the transcript of a purported chat between the special observers and top officials, including district magistrates and police superintendents.

    Expressing outrage over the fact that an EC special observer has “named active TMC workers in the chat and branded them as trouble-mongers”, Banerjee claimed that the official has also “asked the police to arrest all of them so that they cannot be seen anywhere during the polling exercise”.

    “In the chat, the special police observer described TMC activists as ‘goons’ who are not allowing BJP agents to carry out their work. Can the EC use such epithet against a party?” the TMC supremo said.

  • People interested in ‘COVID ki baat’, and not ‘Mann ki baat’, says Mamata

    By PTI
    BAHRAMPUR: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed that people are no longer interested in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Maan ki baat’ programme, they, instead, want to hear ‘COVID ki baat'(COVID- related talks) as the pandemic has left lakhs gasping for breath, amid shortage of vaccines and oxygen cylinders.

    Modi, during his monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann ki baat’ earlier in the day, said that the COVID-19 “storm” has shaken the country, and urged people to get vaccinated.

    Banerjee, during a meeting with party workers at an auditorium in Murshidabad district, claimed that Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah were busy “planning ways to capture Bengal, when they should have been taking appropriate measures” to combat the second wave of the pandemic.

    “Who is interested in your ‘Mann Ki Baat’, people now want to hear ‘COVID ki baat’.

    If there is one infected person in a crowd of 1,000, he can contaminate the rest.

    Two lakh CAPF personnel came from states like UP, Delhi and Rajasthan and many of them might have been carriers of the virus without their knowledge as no RT PCR tests was conducted by the EC.

    “Around one lakh BJP cadres from other states, including ministers from saffron party-ruled states, came to Bengal for campaigning and to rig votes.

    They put up in hotels and guest houses, and must have contributed to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Bengal,” she claimed.

    Cautioning voters against possible visit of central forces accompanied by BJP men at their residences for “intimidation”, Banerjee said, “Please ask them to maintain distance as you don’t know if anyone of them is carrying the virus.

    Mothers and sisters, tell them we are not allowing outsiders inside the house.

    ” Iterating her charge that some EC special observers have planned to take TMC leaders into “preventive custody” ahead of the elections, Banerjee said, “That would be illegal detention.

    None should go to police stations on getting such calls and sit tight till the voting exercise gets over.

    No one can take your right to exercise franchise.

    ” The CM claimed on Saturday that she has come to know from WhatsApp chats between EC observers and top officials, including police superintendents and district magistrates, that intructions have been given for detainment of TMC workers ahead of the voting exercise.

    Continuing her tirade against the poll panel, she said, “Police superintendents and district magistrates have been changed arbitrarily at the last minute to help the BJP.

    “We will move the Supreme Court to ensure polls in future are conducted in a more democratic manner.

    I have already spoken to several senior lawyers.

    ” Banerjee, during her addresss, asked those present at the venue to leave the doors of the auditorium ajar for better air circulation, and said that she was “forced” to organise such meetings in enclosed spaces as EC diktats left her with no other option.

    “We had asked the poll panel to club the last few phases, but it did not pay heed.

    I know the BJP has made specific plans to rig the election in every phase.

    In the sixth phase, BJP-sheltered goons from other areas accompanied central forces to residences of our workers in Naihati, Bhatpara, Jagaddal in North 24 Parganas.

    In the next phase, they are trying to terrorise our people in Paschim Bardhaman.

    ” Wondering “why the police fall silent when EC takes charge during polls,” she asked all officers to perform their job without any biasness.

    Claiming that “cash flow from BJP camps to buy votes was comparable to water flowing from fire brigade hose pipe”, the TMC boss iterated that the saffron party-led central government should have instead borne the cost of the COVID-19 vaccines being provided to people.

    The CM further said that her government has set up 100 COVID-19 treatment units in state-aided and private hospitals across Bengal over the past one week.

    “If you (BJP leaders) have such great love for Bengal, why are you not sending us more vaccines? Why is that truckloads of vaccines are being transported to Gujarat? I have nothing against Gujarat, but what about other states? You are discriminating against Bengal and giving lectures at election meetings,” she said.

    She said Bengal, with a population of around 10 crore, has received three lakh vials so far, which could cater to just about 1.5 lakh people, as each of them need two doses.

    “We have, however, managed to vaccinate one crore people and have sought another one crore (from the Centre).

    We will provide vaccines for free from May 5 to anyone who is 18 years of age or above,” Banerjee added.

     

  • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says she has documents to prove EC-BJP nexus 

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday shared WhatsApp messages allegedly sent by some poll panel officials to certain police personnel,  asking them to detain Trinamool Congress workers who were branded as “trouble makers”. Mamata said she has gathered enough evidence to prove that Election Commission officials are in cahoots with the BJP. “In the WhatsApp messages, these election observers have described Trinamool Congress party workers as trouble mongers. I have seen the message exchanged between them and some police officers,” she said.

    All India Trinamool Congress supremo MamataBanerjee offering puja at TarapithTemple in Birbhum in West Bengal | Bibhash Lodh“Some of our district magistrates and superintendents of police are crossing their limits. Are they echoing the BJP? I will not say anything now. After the polls, I will take up the issue,’’ Mamata said in Bolpur.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo said her next move would be to knock on the door of the Supreme Court ‘’I will move the Supreme Court seeking its intervention. Retired people are being sent as observers. This set of retired persons are issuing orders to serving officers,’’ she alleged.

    Accusing the BJP of being ‘’power-hungry’’ and criticising the Commission’s decision not to club the final three phases of the Assembly elections in the state, she said the Centre was aware that the Covid situation would worsen in January but did not take any steps.

     “Instead, the Centre went ahead with eight-phase to satisfy their lust for power,’’ she alleged. Alleging that the police is also working at the behest of the BJP, she said many TMC workers were picked up from their houses on the morning of the sixth phase of the elections, and they were detained for the entire day.“This was done to ensure the BJP’s victory. Even after adopting all these methods, BJP will not be able to bag more than 70 seats. The CPI(M)-Congress together can hardly get 20-22 seats. Nobody can stop the TMC,’’ Mamata said.

  • Bengal polls:  EC observers ordering detention of TMC workers during polling hours, says Mamata

    By PTI
    BOLPUR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that she has come to know that three special observers of the Election Commission (EC) have “ordered police officers to detain TMC workers” ahead of the voting exercise, and said that she would move the Supreme Court against this “conspiracy”.

    The TMC supremo, while addressing party members at an auditorium in Bolpur, Birbhum district, said she had chanced upon WhatsApp conversations of the special observers, and asserted that she “might be show-caused (by the EC), but can’t be silenced”.

    Banerjee was earlier asked to furnish reasons for her alleged appeal to Muslims to vote en bloc for her party, and her remarks against central forces.

    She was also barred from campaigning for 24 hours.

    “Enough is enough. I don’t have any issue if they (EC observers) work for free and fair elections but they have been working only to help the BJP. They want to finish off Trinamool,” the TMC boss stated.

    ALSO READ | EC top brass reviews enforcement of COVID guidelines during campaigning in Bengal

    “These officials are giving orders to detain our men the night before polls and keep them in custody till the next day. I have seen their WhatsApp conversations; they were given to me by a reporter.

    And it must have originally come from BJP men,” she said, showing the transcript of a purported chat between the special observers and top officials, including district magistrates and police superintendents.

    The CM further said that her party will not take such things lying down and move the Supreme Court against this “conspiracy and partisan approach” after the elections.

    “Is it your job (EC special observer) to ask the police to detain people?” the CM wondered.

    Expressing outrage over the fact that an EC special observer has “named active TMC workers in the chat and branded them as trouble mongers”, Banerjee claimed that the official has also “asked the police to arrest all of them so that they cannot be seen anywhere during the polling exercise”.

    “In the chat, the special police observer described TMC activists as ‘goons’ who are not allowing BJP agents to carry out their work.

    Can the EC use such epithet against a party?” the TMC supremo said.

    Contending that her government had been tolerating such “intimidation and interference since 2016 polls,” she said, “We will move the apex court to discuss ways that can be adopted to ensure that elections are held impartially in the days to come.

    ” Insisting that she had no issue if state government officials and security forces performed ‘Raj Dharma’, the CM stated that the EC has acted in a “partisan manner” against the TMC and favoured the saffron camp in Naihati, Bijpur, Kanchrapara, Mangalkot, Budbud, Goalpokhor, Uttar Dumdum.

    “If someone is illegally detained the night before the polls, his family should go to respective police stations and register protests.

    These three retired persons (EC-appointed observers who are retired IAS and IPS officers) won’t be able to influence the elections.

    Their partisan conduct will help the BJP win just about seven-eight seats.

    “I personally don’t believe the BJP will be able to cross the 70-seat mark,” she claimed.

    Banerjee also held the EC responsible for the spike in COVID-19 cases in the state, maintaining that movement of lakhs of people from one district to another for poll-related work was the reason behind it.

    “Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) jawans and people who came in from other states for campaigning were not made to undergo RT-PCR tests,” she said.

    Taking a jibe at the poll panel, Banerjee also said that the EC banned big rallies in the poll-bound state “only after the central leaders wrapped up their meetings, as they barely drew crowds”.

    “You (EC) steadfastly stuck to your plan of holding the elections in eight phases, despite the COVID-19 surge. Is EC a mirror of the BJP, a parrot of the saffron party?” she underscored.

    Claiming that the autopsy reports of Cooch Behar firing victims have confirmed that shots were targeted at their torsos, the TMC supremo sought to know “under whose instructions was this done? The CID probe will nail those involved in the case.”

    In a dig at PM Narendra Modi over his “Atmanirbhar Bharat” campaign, she said the COVID-19 situation proved the hollowness of the drive “as medicines, vaccine, oxygen, everything went missing”.

    Alleging that the PM and the home minister were making plans to capture Bengal when they should have ensured adequate vaccine and oxygen supply, she said, “Both of them should have resigned over this failure.

    Did they not know in January that COVID-19 will strike again?” Pointing out that the Centre has asked a PSU in Bengal to supply oxygen cylinders to Uttar Pradesh, “depriving the people of this state”, she said, “We are using industrial oxygen for medical purposes.

    We are procuring 5,000 cylinders, and currently have 15,000 more in stock,” she added.

    Claiming that the Centre “seems to be bothered only about Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh”, the CM said, “Given the grave situation in those states, I am not saying they should not get these facilities.

    But there has to be a balanced rationing system for all affected states.

    “Beyond chest-thumping and propaganda, this monumentally incompetent central government is of no use.”

    She further said her government, with its own resources, has so far vaccinated one lakh people.

    The TMC supremo urged the party’s Birbhum district president, Anubrata Mondal, to move court and seek protection if he is put under EC surveillance “like before”.

    She asked party members to be on guard against “intimidation by central forces”.

    Banerjee, during the day, offered prayers at the Tarapith Kali temple in the district.

    “I prayed for the well being of the people of the state, their prosperity. I prayed that communal forces do not get to rear their heads in Bengal,” she posted on Facebook.