Mamata accuses BJP leaders of 'double standards'

In a stinging attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday mocked BJP chief Amit Shah's booth level public interaction programme in the state as maintaining "double standards".

Shah kicked-off his 15-day "Vistar Yatra" programme by interacting with the people in north Bengal's Naxalbari and ate lunch at the house of a Hindu tribal. He visited a slum in Banerjee's constituency Bhawanipore in south Kolkata on Wednesday and went to the house of three slum dwellers.

Alluding to Shah's visit, Banerjee said: "They go to slums in the morning and eat dinner at five star hotels at night. Such is their double standards."

"I go to the slums everyday. It is not right to call the poor, poor. I respect all the poor and struggling people," she said at a public meeting in Alipurduar district's Birpara.

Accusing the Centre of taking away money from West Bengal and distributing it among the BJP run states, the Trinamool Congress supremo said the BJP should not worry about Bengal if they cannot run Gujarat even after so much of central aid.

"You are not able to run Gujarat, what would you do in Bengal? Gujarat does not have the burden of debt like us. It has half the population of West Bengal. On top of that, the money is taken away from Bengal and splashed in Gujarat. Still we are doing much better as a state," Banerjee claimed.

Referring to the closed tea gardens in north Bengal, the Chief Minister accused the BJP of not abiding by the promises made before the Lok Sabha election three years ago and said her party does not believe in making false promises.

"I have come to Birpara before. Birpara voted for BJP, not the Trinamool, but I have come here again to show that the BJP lied before the election. They said they would open seven tea gardens in the region. That has not happened," she said.

"We do not make false promises. Before the election, the BJP and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said we are giving bicycles keeping the elections in mind. One year has passed after the election, but we are still giving bicycles," she added.

--IANS

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