Bengal polls: Mamata now accuses BJP of looting votes; a tactic, feel observers

Kolkata, May 2: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of "looting" votes through the central forces manning the ongoing Assembly election in the state, a report published in Ananda Bazaar Patrika (ABP) said. The Bengal chief minister said this in a couple of rallies in East Midnapore district, which will go to the election on May 5 (Thursday).

Banerjee also said the local police helped the BJP's cause by allowing the looting of votes, the report added. She said it was done in five constituencies in this election and she named four of them: Nagrakata (Jalpaiguri district), Kalchini and Madarihaat (Alipurduar) and Baishnabnagar (Malda). She didn't mention the fifth constituency.

The TMC will benefit if the BJP gets a decent vote-share as it will divide the anti-establishment ballots, as it was the case in 2014 Lok Sabha election. Then why is Banerjee targeting the saffron party?

According to the observers, the TMC is playing a mind game by saying the BJP is looting votes. Through this, she is trying to give the Left-Congress alliance a message that the BJP is capable of ruining their prospects, though she chose to do it by means of attacking the saffron party.

She also warned the BJP that she would settle terms with it in the next Lok Sabha election in 2019.

The BJP did well in the two districts---East Midnapore and Cooch Behar---that are going to the polls on Thursday, in the last Lok Sabha election. In the only constituency in the newly formed Alipurduar district, the BJP got 20 per cent vote-share. According to experts, Banerjee made the BJP an important party to the final phase of this year's eventful Assembly election, the first she is contesting as the ruler.

The BJP, on the other hand, said Banerjee was preparing excuses as she knows that the BJP will do good in the four seats that she named.

The Left-Congress alliance, on the other hand, said Banerjee's hopes that the BJP will make serious dents into the Opposition's vote will remained unfulfilled.

Oneindia News