First time a CM sat on Dharna to protect looters, says PM Modi; Mamata hits back

Kolkata, Feb 08: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a scathing attack on Mamata Banerjee saying the West Bengal government welcomes infiltrators but stops BJP leaders.

PM Modi attacked Banerjee for her sit-in protest and said it was the first time that a chief minister had sit on Dharna to protect those who had looted lakhs of people.

The attack came three days after Banerjee called off her sit-in protest against "politically motivated" attempts by the CBI to question Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit fund scam case.

In an attack at Mamata Banerjee's TMC-led govt in West Bengal, PM Modi said, "In West Bengal, in the name of mother, soil and people (Ma, Maati and Manush), those who gave you the power to rule, the responsibility to ensure freedom from the Communist power, the TMC instead made the same violence the 'political culture' here."

He added that the situation today is that though West Bengal's Chief Minister is Didi, but someone else's Dadagiri runs around here , whereas TMC's 'Jagai madhai' are running the administration.

Hailing the BJP rule at the Centre, he claimed that the NDA government's development plans are intentional and policy is made in accordance to that which is why we have re-opened tea estates and opened the bank accounts of those working in these estates. He also spoke about the pension scheme for the tea estate workers.

PM Modi announced that workers employed in tea plantation fields will now be entitled to a pension. This scheme would benefit over 40 crore workers in the unorganized sector.

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP has its own band party to beat its drums, but there is no bride or groom. All of this is election stunts.

Mamata Banerjee has refuted PM Modi's claim that the work behind the Circuit house and the Highway in Jalpaiguri were done by the Modi government at the centre. She has said that it was the state government's implementation, Bengal's manpower and the Calcutta High Court's supervision that led to the success of the two projects. "Modi came only for show-off and nothing else," she added.