BJP Calls TMC's Dharna Outside EC Office As 'Drama' To Divert Focus

The BJP on Tuesday dubbed the dharna by TMC leaders outside the Election Commission's office in New Delhi as a "drama" and an attempt to divert attention from the "misdeeds" of its leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The Trinamool Congress leaders, who were detained by the Delhi Police while staging the dharna, continued their protest at the Mandir Marg police station on Tuesday morning.

"The TMC leaders are creating a scene outside the office of the Election Commission of India to run away from the real issues. If they have any grievances, they can move the court. What are they doing outside the ECI's office?" BJP leader Rahul Sinha said. West Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC is desperately trying to hinge on something to "divert attention from its misdeeds".

"The TMC is very much involved in all sorts of corruption. Their leaders are also involved in crude bomb-making. The fact is in most cases the central agencies are working as per the instructions of the court," Bhattacharya said. A 10-member TMC delegation met the full bench of the EC on Monday and demanded that the heads of the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency and Income Tax department be changed, as they were allegedly acting at the behest of the ruling BJP.

The TMC leaders later announced they were sitting on a 24-hour dharna outside the poll panel's office. The delegation comprised Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas and TMC West Bengal students' wing vice-president Sudip Raha.

Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee had on Monday criticised the detention of party leaders by Delhi Police, denouncing it as a "black day in democracy". Banerjee, who led an 11-member TMC delegation to the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, told reporters after meeting Governor C V Ananda Bose that the EC's role in the entire incident was "unfortunate and deplorable."