Congress Is B Team Of BJP, Says Mamata Banerjee At Tripura Rally

Mamata Banerjee said the Bengal model is being discussed at the international level.

Agartala:

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress ahead of the Tripura Assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said Congress is BJP’s ‘team B’.

Keen on expanding her party’s footprint in other states, Mamata Banerjee held a march with TMC workers and supporters in Agartala on Tuesday as Tripura Assembly elections are scheduled on February 16. The counting of votes will take place on March 2.

Attacking Congress, the TMC chief said the Congress is the BJP’s team B.

She said, “This Congress is not that I was associated with once. if it was then I would have never left that party. This Congress is the ‘B’ team of BJP.”

Addressing a public meeting in Tripura, Ms Banerjee said, “We have done development work in Bengal. We provide ‘Swasthya Sathi’ cards for health insurance. There is no credibility in the Ayushman Bharat card given by the central government.

She said the Bengal model is being discussed at the international level.

“Unemployment has increased by 40 per cent in the country under the double-engine government. Have they fulfilled the promises they made? Has Rs 15 lakh come into your account?” she questioned.

She said the BJP is not able to fight politically, and that is why it is sending central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate to the residences of the Opposition leaders.

“Has the black money come back after demonetisation? If Life Insurance Corporation of India and State Bank of India sinks, will we get our money back? If you people are thinking that with the help of ED and CBI, we will be wiped out, that is not easy,” Ms Banerjee said in a veiled attack at the Centre amid the Adani row.

Slamming the BJP-led Centre, Mamata said the central government is not giving the money for 100 days of work. She alleged that the Centre is also taking the tax of the state government.

“We have given jobs in the field of education. But there may be some mistakes, legal action is being taken against them. Has anything like this happened in other states?” said the West Bengal CM.

Earlier, in October, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against 12 persons, including the former chairman of West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC), Subiresh Bhattachary, in connection with the alleged illegal appointment of assistant teachers through the WBSSC.

The CBI also named a former assistant secretary of the WBCSSC, an ex-advisor, two former programme officers of the commission and six others in the chargesheet submitted before an Alipore special judge.

The accused in the chargesheet were identified as Santi Prasad Sinha, Ashok Kr Saha, Kalyanmoy Ganguly, Parna Bose, Samarjit Acharya, Prasanna Kumar Roy, Pradip Singh, Jnui Das, Md Azad Ali Mirza, Imam Momin and Rohit Kumar Jha.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)