Want to give Modi a tight slap of democracy: Mamata on Tolabaazi jibe

Kolkata, May 07: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday stepped up her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that she feels like giving one tight slap of democracy.

"Money doesn't matter to me. That is why when Narendra Modi came to Bengal and accused my party of being tolabaaz (toll collector), I wanted to give him a tight slap of democracy," ANI quoted Mamata as saying at a rally in West Bengal's Purulia district.

Mamata Banerjee's statement came in reaction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders'claim that TMC in Bengal is run on syndicate money.

PM Modi had, in a rally in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, said, "West Bengal, under Mamata Banerjee, was known for 'triple T -- Trinamool, Tolabaazi, Tax'."

On Monday, Mamata said she did not respond to Modi's requests for talks over Cyclone Fani as she doesn't consider him the country's prime minister.

"I don't consider him the country's PM, hence I didn't sit for the meeting. I don't want to be seen with him on the same platform. I will speak to the next PM. We can take care of cyclone damage by ourselves. We don't need Centre's help ahead of polls," ANI quoted Banerjee as saying at a rally in West Bengal's Jhargram.

Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Mamata Banerjee's syndicate morcha was influencing the elections.

"In spite of central forces coming and assuring the voters that their presence will make a difference, Didi's syndicate morcha people are all over the place. Mamata Banerjee screams about democracy, she is the one who is violating democracy," Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The BJP campaign in West Bengal has been focussed on painting the ruling party in the state as corrupt and dominated by goons. BJP has time and again accused Mamata Banerjee and TMC of throttling democracy under syndicate raj.