The BJP on Wednesday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for “intimidating” a couple into joining the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Rajiv Mahali and his wife Geeta had hosted BJP president Amit Shah for lunch a week ago. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned what he termed the “forced” joining of the Mahali couple in the TMC and described it as a “textbook case of revenge politics”.
The Mahali couple told media in Naxalbari that they joined the TMC since they were inspired by the development work of Mamata. Prasad charged that the BJP workers and others Shah interacted with during his tour to the chief minister’s Assembly seat of Bhawanipur were also “pressurised” to show their allegiance to the TMC.
The minister said the very fact that the TMC is jittery showed that the BJP president’s tour of West Bengal was “a success”. He said the couple were kidnapped and the BJP’s unit in Siliguri tried to register a case, but the police refused to probe it.
DH News Service
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