Following Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee's unveiling of the party's candidates for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, the BJP wasted no time in criticizing the list, alleging it was brimming with "outsiders" and many individuals who had been "discarded" by the BJP.
Amit Malviya, BJP’s Information Technology Cell Chief and the party’s Central Observer for West Bengal, took to social media to mock certain names included in the list.
Malviya singled out Shatrughan Sinha (Asansol), Kirti Azad (Bardhaman-Durgapur), Yusuf Pathan (Baharampur), Krishna Kalyani (Raiganj), Mukut Mani Adhikari (Ranaghat), Sujata Mondal (Bishnupur), Biswajit Das (Bangaon), and Biplab Mitra (Balurghat).
"Does TMC not have enough candidates of its own? Shatrughan Sinha, Kirti Azad, and Yusuf Pathan are outsiders. Couldn't TMC find sufficient local candidates for the election?" remarked Malviya in his post.
Of note, Sujata Mondal, contesting for the Trinamool Congress from the Bishnupur Lok Sabha constituency, happens to be the estranged wife of the current BJP Lok Sabha member Saumitra Khan from the same constituency.
The remaining individuals mentioned by Malviya in his post are former MLAs and leaders who have switched sides.
Malviya also criticized Trinamool for renominating the incumbent party MP from the Murshidabad constituency, Abu Taher Khan.
"Abu Taher Khan, involved in an incident where his SUV fatally injured a 6-year-old child, has been fielded from Murshidabad. Did TMC not have enough individuals with questionable backgrounds that Mamata Banerjee felt the need to include Taher on the list? And let's not forget Mahua Moitra, expelled from Parliament for multiple violations, emerging as a symbol of impropriety," wrote Malviya.
Meanwhile, the sitting BJP Lok Sabha member, Locket Chatterjee, emphasized that the real battle would revolve around the "development policies" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi versus the "corruption and misrule" of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"The Chief Minister was indifferent when Sandeshkhali was in turmoil. The people of West Bengal have now reached the limit of their patience. They will respond resolutely to Trinamool this time," Chatterjee asserted.
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