Serampore: TMC boss Mamata Banerjee Wednesday alleged the prime minister is using black money made white during note ban to buy votes, fighting fire with fire a day after Narendra Modi’s jibe that the PM’s post was not up for auction that it can be bought with the money looted from “Narada, Saradha” scams.
She also accused the BJP of “importing guns and goons” to secure votes.
“Modi Babu you may forcibly impose notebandi (demonetisation) on people to convert black money into white and spend them during elections to purchase votes, but you can never purchase voters in Bengal,” Banerjee told an election rally at Serampore in Hooghly district.
“You (Modi) are destined to be dethroned after the elections. Our government will prove what a big scam demonetisation was,” the TMC supremo said.
Addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Asansol on Tuesday, Modi had ridiculed Banerjee over her prime ministerial ambitions.
Modi said he felt “pity” for Banerjee as the PMs post can never be bought with money looted in Saradha and Narada scams.
“By fighting in just a handful of seats, Didi (Banerjee) is dreaming of becoming the prime minister. If the post of the prime minister could be bought in auctions, then Congress and Didi would have bought it with the money they’ve looted from the country.
“Didi, the prime minister’s post is not available for auction that you can buy it with the money earned in Saradha, Narada (scams),” Modi had said, launching a broadside against Banerjee, one of his most vocal critics. The TMC is contesting all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
Modi also spoke about “rampant corruption and crimes” in the state, claiming “Under speed-breaker Didi only corruption and crime are two non-stop things in Bengal”.
The prime minister had also raked up the issue of infiltration, which is high on the BJP’s poll agenda, saying Banerjee has turned infiltrators into TMC cadres and is now using Bangladeshi actors to campaign for her.
Two Bangladeshi actors were recently ordered out of the country after they were found campaigning for TMC candidates violating visa rules.
Banerjee hit back at the prime minister with a vengeance, claiming the “BJP is importing guns and goons into West Bengal to vitiate the environment and unleash terror”.
“We must foil such bids in order to maintain peace and harmony,” the West Bengal chief minister said.
Also read: West Bengal wants real change, not Mamata Banerjee’s ‘poriborton’