SHAH LISTS DOLES BJP WILL ROLL OUT IN WEST BENGAL, MAMATA HITS BACK
KOLKATA: Starting from implementing the 7th pay commission, which would benefit more than a million state government employees, to providing an annual subsidy of ₹6000 to around 400,000 fishermen, Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday listed out a series of doles which he claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would implement if it is voted to power in the coming elections in West Bengal.
While on one hand Shah showered poll promises ahead of the crucial assembly elections, on the other he mounted attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress. The Union home minister attacked TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, alleging that the Centre had sent money to the state after Cyclone Amphan but TMC-backed goons had eaten away everything.
The TMC chief, who was addressing a rally in the same district around the same time, hit out at the BJP-led Centre over the price rise and disinvestment policies.
“You never tall about price rise. You just talk about Didi and Bhatija (nephew). First fight the bhatija then you can fight Didi. I challenge Shah to contest against bhatija. Hiding your corrupt son and pointing fingers at others won’t do. Your son is my bhatija. How did he become the BCCI secretary and amassed wealth?” said Banerjee.
KAKDWIP: Alleging that the Trinamool Congress government has introduced a “cut-money” culture in West Bengal, Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s fight is to end it and take the state to the path of development if voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls.
“This ‘Parivartan Yatra’ is not for changing a CM, or a minister. It is for ending infiltration and also for the transformation of Bengal. You vote for the BJP. Leave alone illegal immigrants, not even a bird from across the border will be allowed to enter the state,” Shah said addressing a rally here.
He also spoke about the killings of BJP workers and warned that the perpetrators will be thrown behind bars.
The union minister said the BJP is ready to take on the “goons” and the “syndicates” of the ruling TMC.
Speaking on the controversy over the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan, Shah said, “Bengal CM gets angry at the slogan due to her appeasement politics.” Banerjee on January 23 declined to speak at an event to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary where “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah also slammed the TMC dispensation in the state for alleged corruption in disbursing ‘Amphan’ relief funds. “The money was siphoned off by the TMC leaders. If voted to power, we will probe into this corruption. We will form a task force for saving lives from cyclones and environmental disasters.”
Shah also reached out to the West Bengal government employees and said the 7th Pay Commission will be implemented in the state if the saffron party is voted to power.
“The financial condition of Bengal is so bad that the state government employees don’t get the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission. If voted to power we would implement it in the state,” he said.