Mamata using administration for poaching: Bengal Congress chief

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of using the administration for poaching opposition leaders for her Trinamool Congress.

"District magistrates and superintendents of police are being used by the chief minister to influence Congress leaders and workers to join the Trinamool. This is being done in districts which are Congress strongholds, like Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur," Chowdhury told media persons here.

"As there is no election around, the Trinamool chief has decided to go around destroying other parties," he said.

The comments come in the wake of several Congress leaders including legislator Tushar Kanti Bhattacharya of Bishnupur assembly constituency switching over to the ruling Trinamool.

Chowdhury also said the party was mulling legal actions against Bhattacharya.

Congress which emerged as the main opposition party in the Assembly elections, had made all its 44 legislators to give a "written declaration" on stamp paper that they would not leave the party.

Chowdhury also slammed the state administration over the dengue outbreak which so far has claimed at least 11 lives.

"The administration has been a complete failure in tackling dengue which has now acquired alarming proportions. The state is on the threshold of a dengue epidemic but the chief minister is unperturbed," he said.

He also took a jibe over the Banerjee government's bid to take over the Rabindranath Tagore Nobel medallion theft case from the CBI which had been entrusted with the investigation following the theft which came to light on March 25, 2004.

"We will be happy if she is successful in doing so and will demand a Nobel Prize for her if she manages to retrieve the stolen medallion," said Chowdhury.

--IANS

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