Mamata in Apparent Jibe at Adhikari Family

In an apparent jibe at the influential Adhikari family of Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that she was relieved as “Mir Zafars” (traitors) have quit the party ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. Terming the BJP as a “party of feudal lords”, the TMC supremo, while addressing an election rally at Khejuri in the district, alleged that the saffron party was more interested in selling the entire country.

“Thank God, the ‘Mir Jafars’ (traitors) have left (TMC). I am relieved. It has saved us (the party). They never used to allow me to come to Khejuri, Nandigram or Kanthi whenever I wished to visit these places. As if this was their ‘zamindari’. Now, nobody can stop me from coming here,” Banerjee said. She alleged that the BJP has stolen several lakhs of crores of rupees from the common people of the country by “selling” the Railways, BSNL and banks.

“The BJP must clear the air over the fate of the demonetisation money and PM cares funds. People want to know,” she said. She urged people to be alert while casting their votes and double-check the EVMs properly.

Using the party’s famous ‘Khela Hobe’ (game is on) slogan, she urged the voters to drive the BJP out of the country. “Play the game in such a manner that the BJP is driven out of the country,” she added.

Banerjee left her Bhowanipore constituency in Kolkata to contest her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, where an anti-land acquisition movement catapulted the TMC to power in the state in 2011. Most members of the Adhikari family, which holds considerable political clout in the district, have either joined the BJP or expressed a desire to join the saffron party.

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