TMC says will win Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat even if PM Modi contests

Trinamool said that its public representatives have brought in pro-development policies, and worked for the people.

Kolkata: A section of Opposition leaders in Bengal, including BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, are mulling the idea of offering a tough fight to Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Diamond Harbour, his Lok Sabha constituency, in the upcoming elections.

The Trinamool, on Monday, however, countered by challenging the BJP to field Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the said constituency, saying that the party would still emerge victorious.

In a press conference addressed by Trinamool’s senior leaders Shashi Panja and Partha Bhowmick, the party considered the comments of the leaders in Opposition as “just political stunts to stay relevant in the media”. 

The party said that its public representatives have brought in pro-development policies, and worked for the people. The leaders blamed the BJP-Bengal for having welfare funds blocked for the state, from the Centre’s end, and said that state Congress has not condemned the blocking.

“No matter who contests the Diamond Harbour seat, Trinamool Congress will win,” Panja said.

“Leader of Opposition (Adhikari) should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contest from Diamond Harbour. Even if that happens, Abhishek Banerjee will win…,” she said, adding that the PM himself was in a direct fight – in terms of campaigns – in 2021 assembly elections, confronting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party.

Panja claimed that the trend to “attack non-BJP parties” had started in 2014, and alleged that the BJP’s “political vendetta” against her party got more intense since the 2021 assembly elections. “Trinamool Congress is the most attacked party with central agencies such as ED and CBI being misused for political vendetta,” she said.

She alleged that the central agencies are being “misused” against Trinamool Congress, and are “not being used to carry out their duties when it comes to BJP leaders”. 

The party named six leaders, associated with its political rival, to highlight the issue of increase in assets. “If the ED and CBI are neutral as they claim, why aren’t these six leaders receiving at least a notice from the central agencies,” the party’s release mentioned.