'Rahul Gandhi keeps dropping truth bombs': BJP backs LoP's criticism of TMC govt

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi found backing from an unlikely quarter — the BJP’s West Bengal unit. On Wednesday, after he released a video accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of failing to run a clean government, the remarks found support from the saffron party, as it gave them ammunition against its rival ahead of the first phase of the state assembly elections.

In the video, posted on social media on the eve of the West Bengal polls’ first phase, Gandhi said that had Banerjee run a clean administration and not polarised the state, the BJP would never have gained a foothold there. The BJP’s Bengal unit publicly welcomed the remarks, describing Gandhi as dropping “truth bombs” against the Trinamool Congress government.

“If Mamata ji had run a clean government, if Mamata ji had not polarised Bengal, then the BJP would not have gotten an opening,” Gandhi said in the video, in which he also urged voters to back the Congress and argued that only his party could defeat the BJP.

Amplifying the video, the BJP’s Bengal unit tweeted: “Rahul Gandhi keeps dropping truth bombs regarding the TMC. Thanks again Rahul ji.”

The Congress is contesting the West Bengal elections without an alliance, taking on both the ruling TMC and the BJP simultaneously. Gandhi also used the address to accuse the BJP of stealing elections through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) mechanism and of working against Bengali culture, history and language.

“The BJP has stolen elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh," Gandhi alleged. He also accused the BJP of seeking to undermine the Constitution, framing the polls as an ideological contest between his party and the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

The first phase of polling in West Bengal took place on Thursday. The second phase is set for April 29, with votes to be counted on May 4.