Mamata Alleges 19 States and Centre Combined to Oppose a Single Lady Fighting for Common People, Congress to Stand by Khera
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 13: The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said 19 States and the Centre have come together to counter her, and that she was single-handedly fighting for the common people.
Addressing a rally at Suri in Birbhum district, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said the BJP won’t be able to win the West Bengal elections using forces from Delhi. “The Trinamool Congress will secure over 226 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections,” she said. She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme was being telecast to influence young minds.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the people of West Bengal would reply to bombs and bullets with votes, and pledged that the BJP would “hang the syndicate and cut money promoters upside down to make them straight” once the voters “bid adieu to the TMC government.”
Addressing poll rallies in Mayureshwar and Khayrasole areas of Birbhum district and in Paschim Bardhaman’s Raniganj, he said the writing on the wall was that the BJP would form a government in West Bengal as the people of the State have decided to bid “Ta Ta Bye Bye” to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
He also accused Ms Banerjee of opposing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and drew parallels with Kabir’s initiative to build a mosque in Murshidabad’s Beldanga modelled on the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and said they were “two of a kind” and the BJP would never allow a Babri Masjid to be built in Bengal.
Meanwhile, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party stands with Pawan Khera and “will not be intimidated” after the Assam government moved the Supreme Court against the transit anticipatory bail to him in a case related to his allegations against the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife.
On April 10, the Telangana High Court had granted Khera one-week transit anticipatory bail on a plea filed by him after the Assam police raided his Delhi residence for questioning but did not find him there.
In a post on X, Mr Gandhi alleged, “The present CM of Assam is the most corrupt in the country. He will not escape the law. His abuse of state power to harass his political opponents and critics is against the Constitution.”
“The questions that are being raised have to be probed. Transparency, accountability of power and rule of law are the basis of our Constitutional values. The Congress Party stands with Pawan Khera. We will not be intimidated,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
The case against Mr Khera was registered on Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s complaint at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under several sections of the BNS, including 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 35 (Right of private defence of the body and of property) and 318 (cheating).
The High Court gave Mr Khera a week’s time to file an application before the court concerned and granted him relief with certain conditions. “Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this court is of the view that the petitioner has made out a case for the grant of limited transit anticipatory bail, as his apprehension of arrest appears to be reasonable and supported by material on record,” the High Court had said in its order.
The conditions were that the petitioner shall be released on bail in the event of arrest on his executing a personal bond for ₹1 lakh with two sureties for the like sum each, cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation as and when required by the Investigating Officer and that he shall not leave the country without prior permission of the competent Court.
