Gujarat Elections: Mamata criticises Modi for 'road show' on polling day

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s walk to the polling booth – considered a ‘road show’ – for casting his vote in the second phase of Gujarat elections.

“If (the) Prime Minister goes and has a rally on the election day what do we expect? Hundred-hundred (cent per cent results) they may get. But is it fair?” Banerjee remarked at Kolkata airport before she boarded a flight for the capital to participate in a G20 preparatory meeting. She said so while responding to a query on the BJP claiming of having a clean sweep in the state’s Assembly elections.

Banerjee observed that they (the BJP) are ‘special people’, when asked for her reaction on PM’s walk that apparently resembled a road show. “It is (the) election commission’s duty. As a political party we abide by the election commission,” she said, adding that on an election day road shows are banned. “But for them, they may be excused. This is the basic difference,” she added.

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Banerjee, besides attending a preparatory meeting related to the G20 summit, is also to visit Ajmer and Pushkar – two spiritual destinations. She is also likely to hold a meeting with her party’s MPs. She may not have a one on one meeting with the prime minister, she said.

On G20 logo controversy

After the Congress Party’s criticism of the lotus flower having been included in G20 logo for the summit scheduled to take place under India’s presidency in Delhi next year, the Trinamool chief has said that while she has refrained from speaking on the subject, yet the matter is “not a non-issue.”

Banerjee said that when it’s a matter that concerns the country, we refrain from speaking as it’s not good for the country’s reputation. But it’s also a fact, she added, that while being a national flower, the lotus is also a symbol of a political party, and there are other similar national representations too (that could have been considered). Banerjee said that even if she doesn’t raise the issue, others will, and she is responding as she has been asked to speak.

“I am observing but as it concerns the country, I have not made an issue out of it. But it’s not a non-issue. It’s an important issue, and I think they should think over the matter,” she added.