BJP criticises TMC’s candidate selection in West Bengal, alleging corruption and outsider issues. Trinamool faces scrutiny over Lok Sabha nominees
Taking a swipe at West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress over its list of Lok Sabha candidates, BJP MP Dilip Ghosh criticised TMC on Monday, saying that senior leaders of the ruling party are “corrupt” and new people are not willing to join them ahead of the general elections due in the next few weeks.
“Senior leaders (of TMC) are corrupt and new people are not joining the party. They (TMC) have to bring candidates from Bihar, Gujarat etc. This is the plight of TMC… Their party symbol has now become the symbol of corruption… TMC has never trusted educated Bengalis. It has trusted criminals like Sheikh Shahjahan,” Ghosh told news agency ANI.
‘FULL OF OUTSIDERS’
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday ended speculation of a possible seat adjustment with the Congress by unveiling its candidates’ list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Facing political heat over the incidents in Sandeshkhali, where allegations of land grab and sexual abuse against TMC leaders surfaced, TMC chose to retain 16 of 23 sitting MPs. Comprising 12 women candidates, the candidate list sported 26 fresh faces, 11 of whom were political greenhorns.
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TMC sprung the biggest surprise by nominating ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan for the Baharampur seat, historically a stronghold of state Congress chief and five-term MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Soon after TMC released its list of candidates, BJP called out the party for having a list “full” of what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calls “outsiders”. This jibe comes as TMC, in the past, has accused the BJP of fielding candidates in Bengal who are not from the state.
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‘WALKOVER TO BJP’
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that TMC’s “inability to find suitable Bengali Candidates” has given walkover to BJP before the Lok Sabha election. “Your inability to find suitable Bengali Candidates, indicates that people who are concerned about their political future and prospects of winning have certainly refused your offer. Hence you had to lure ‘OUTSIDERS’ who are unaware of the ground reality. Also, by fielding a few lightweights, who have nothing but nuisance value as their USP, you have literally given walkovers to @BJP4Bengal Candidates,” Adhikari said in a post on X.
“Yusuf Pathan, the TMC’s Baharampur candidate, is from Baroda in Gujarat or West Bengal? The TMC list is full of what Mamata Banerjee calls ‘bohiragotos (outsiders)’,” Amit Malviya, the BJP’s West Bengal co-in-charge said in a post on X. “Shame on her divisive politics, which is holding back West Bengal,” he added. Malviya noted that several of the TMC candidates have a background with the BJP and asked if the party doesn’t have enough candidates of its own. “Of them, Shatrughan Sinha, Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan are bohiragotos. The TMC didn’t find enough sons of the soil to field,” he added.
(With agency inputs)
