BJP's Samik Bhattacharya terms Bengal poll contest as 'public versus Mamata Banerjee'

Nadia (West Bengal), April 8 (IANS) West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday described the upcoming two-phased Assembly election in the state as a political contest depicting the "public versus Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee". 

Speaking to reporters during a BJP campaign here, Bhattacharya said, "We do not depend on Harijan, Girijan, Adivasi, Matua, Rajbanshi (communities) and do our politics. We have a vision for the entire people of West Bengal."

The State BJP President highlighted that it is the BJP's "agenda to free the people from the curse named Trinamool Congress in West Bengal".

"This time the contest is between the public versus Mamata Banerjee," he remarked.

On Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee saying that her party's target is Delhi, Bhattacharya said, "Mamata Banerjee is the Chief Minister of West Bengal for one to one-and-a-half months more. It is not important to react to everything that she says."

The West Bengal BJP Chief also addressed the controversy that erupted after Rakesh Singh was announced on Wednesday as the party's candidate from the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency soon after he got bail from the Calcutta High Court.

Bhattacharya asked, "Why was Rakesh Singh sent to jail (in the first place)? Why was his daughter arrested and kept in the custody for three days? The locals know about this, whether he went to jail after committing a crime or after staging a political protest. And what were the charges framed against him?"

"We are hopeful of a positive verdict from the court," he asserted.

The BJP leader accused the Trinamool Congress of attempting to remove the names of the voters from the Matua community during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.

Bhattacharya said, "I have to agree that they (Trinamool) have been successful in that attempt to an extent."

"Some names from the Adivasi (tribal) community have been removed by the Trinamool Congress. There has been a controversy against some established names of the society as well," he added.

Moreover, Bhattacharya said, "If the Trinamool thinks that by removing some names from the Matua and Adivasi communities (from the voter's list) they will win the elections, they are at fault."

He expressed faith that the BJP will win all seven Assembly seats in Nadia district.

"Trinamool will not be able to open its (vote count) account in Nadia," he said, adding: "Trinamool is finished."