Mamata’s Response To PM’s ‘Didi-O-Didi’ Digs At Rallies

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that she would win the ongoing state polls despite injury and eventually aim for power in Delhi.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Ms Banerjee who is seeking a third term in office said that West Bengal will be ruled by its own people.

Terming herself as a Royal Bengal Tiger, the TMC chief said, West Bengal will not be ruled by anyone from Gujarat.

“I will win Bengal with one leg and Delhi with two legs,” Ms Banerjee said.

The TMC leader said that she suffered injuries, which were allegedly inflicted on her by BJP supporters in Nandigram on March 10, to prevent her from campaigning for the West Bengal assembly polls, a make or break event for both the TMC and the BJP.

However, after going through the report of poll observers, the Election Commission had concluded that the Nandigram incident was an accident and not a planned attack.

Criticising the central government over Sunday’s Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, the West Bengal Chief Minister accused the BJP of not governing the country properly and concentrating on West Bengal elections.

Lambasting the BJP for bringing leaders from all over the country, who “are camping in the state to win the elections”, Ms Banerjee said at a public meeting that the BJP is fielding its sitting MPs for the assembly polls since it has a dearth of suitable candidates.

Ms Banerjee, who has been accused by the Prime Minister of showering abuses on him on different occasions in the run up to the elections, said that she does not care about Modi calling her “Didi…o… didi” in a tone which some TMC women leaders have termed as sarcastic.

“He does this every day, I don’t care,” Ms Banerjee said. Questioning the logic behind holding West Bengal assembly elections in eight phases, she said, “It could have been done in 3 or 4 phases.”

“Was it not prudent to hold the elections in fewer phases and wrap it up early in view of the COVID-19 situation?” the Chief Minister asked.

Ms Banerjee also claimed that the coronavirus situation is not grim in the state till now.

In West Bengal, 1,957 more people had tested positive for the infection on Sunday.