West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting in support of party candidates ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, in South Dinajpur district, on April 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A day after the Leader of Opposition said that an explosion in the politics of West Bengal was imminent, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Sunday that the BJP is targeting her and her nephew, the Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, but they are not concerned.
“This talk about exploding bombs. I am the target and so is Abhishek. They are very dangerous. They could kill us. But we are not concerned about our safety,” the Chief Minister said, while addressing a gathering in Kumarganj.
Ms. Banerjee was campaigning for Balurghat Lok Sabha party candidate and State Minister Biplab Mitra. The Trinamool Congress chairperson launched a scathing attack on a former cabinet colleague, without naming the person.
CM disdains threat
“There is a traitor who joined the BJP to protect his family and ill-gotten wealth. Let me tell him, we treat with contempt his threat to trigger a chocolate bomb explosion. We will counter him with firecrackers,” she said.
The Chief Minister often refers to Mr. Adhikari as a “traitor”. He joined the BJP in December 2020 months ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal.
Campaigning at a rally in Malda for party candidate Srirupa Mitra Choudhury, Mr. Adhikari claimed that a “huge explosion” would shatter the TMC. “Wait for Monday. A huge explosion will shatter ‘Pisi-Bhaipo’s ( aunt-nephew) ‘party. They will not recover,” he said. The BJP leader clarified that he was referring to a political explosion.
In another development State Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya has lodged a police complaint against the BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya over a social media post.
Ms. Bhattacharya said the post was a “false imputation” and made with an “intention to affect the result of an election.” The complaint was filed at Gariahat police station in Kolkata on Saturday.
In a recent post the BJP leader had accused the Chief Minister of using derogatory language during a public meeting. “Mamata Banerjee is free to plummet to new lows in public discourse but she should stop playing the victim when she gets slammed in the kind of language she understands,” read a part of the social media post.