Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I challenge Amit Shah to let his son enter politics”.
Kolkata:
The brawl between Mamata Banerjee and Union minister Amit Shah over her nephew and his son climbed an octave higher today than the last round, with the Chief Minister challenging the senior BJP leader to fight in an election against her nephew and first defeat him.
There was a second challenge as well. Ms Banerjee, who had dragged Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah into the debate last week, continued the argument today, saying, “I challenge Amit Shah to let his son enter politics”.
“Abhishek Banerjee gets no special privileges from me,” the Chief Minister said, voicing for the first time the issue that has been the proverbial elephant in the room for her party.
“Abhishek was a young boy when I was beaten up,” she said, recalling the events of August 16, 1990, when she was thrashed by CPM cadres in Kolkata and suffered a head injury.
“As a young boy, he started asking questions about why I was beaten up. He went around with a flag, shouting the slogan ‘jobab chai, jobab dao’ (we demand an answer),” Ms Banerjee said.
“Wasn’t there an attempt to bump him off in an accident? He still can’t see properly in one eye. It had almost come out. My family will not do anything that will let you down… I told him go to Rajya Sabha, he said, ‘No I want to be elected’,” she added, referring to the MP from Diamond Harbour.
His induction and rapid rise through party ranks made Abhishek Banerjee a point of friction between the Trinamool chief and her leaders, many of whom have subsequently switched to the BJP.
Senior leaders like Suvendu Adhikari who changed camps were vocal, stopping just short of pointing fingers at Ms Banerjee for propagating “dynasty”. Without naming Abhishek Banerjee, Mr Adhikari had spoken of leaders “arriving by parachute or lift” in the party, drawing retaliation.
The BJP has inevitably targeted the Chief Minister on the issue.
During his visit to the state last week, Amit Shah had said, “Modi Sarkar is for Garib Kalyan (welfare of the poor). Mamata Sarkar is for Bhatija Kalyan (welfare of the nephew). She is wondering when she can make her nephew Chief Minister”.
It was a charge Mr Shah repeated today at his public address at Namkhana, where he flagged off a ‘parivartan yatra’.
Ms Banerjee, with her street fighter credentials, did not pull punches.
“They keep saying Bhatija Bua. What about your son? We are bad just because we are in Bengal. How did he make so much money?” she had shot back that day.
“I will fight on the streets,” Ms Banerjee declared today. “Will my booth workers take care of the booths? We will win 2021 with record margins,” she added.