The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are different ball games, said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.
Calcutta:
Trinamool Congress said on Wednesday that while the BJP is considering winning the West Bengal assembly elections next year due to its impressive performance in the Lok Sabha election in 2019, the Saffron Party is dreaming.
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are different ball games, TMC spokesman Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said.
Against the BJP’s claim that it would introduce the “Gujarat model” for West Bengal development, he said that comparative figures from the two states prove that the TMC-led state has performed better in several areas. keys than the one ruled by the saffron party. .
“Those who say they will win the ballot boxes in the Assembly since they won 18 seats in the Lok Sabha elections are dreaming,” said Roy, MP for Rajya Sabha, without naming the BJP.
The BJP won 18 of the 42 constituencies of Lok Sabha in West Bengal in the 2019 general election.
The main TMC leader said Congress won 16 seats in West Bengal in the December 1984 election in Lok Sabha, but could only win 42 constituencies in the 1987 assembly elections.
“There is no connection between the Lok Sabha elections and the state assembly polls. Such comparisons are laughable,” Roy said at a press conference.
Mr Roy said that party leader Mamata Banerjee’s only agenda was peace and development and the welfare of the people. He said that although it is claimed that the “Gujarat model” will be introduced in West Bengal for its development, the record of the TMC-led state is better than that of the western state on several parameters.
BJP State President Dilip Ghosh recently said that the Saffron Party will turn Bengal into another Gujarat through various development initiatives to ensure that young people in the state do not have to surrender in other parts of the country for a job.
In fiscal year 2019-2020, the budget allocation for health services increased 6.3% in West Bengal, while in Gujarat, ruled by the BJP, it increased by 4%, said Mr. Roy.
During the same period, the education allowance increased in Bengal by 12.3%, while it increased by only 5.3% in the western state, the TMC leader said. , claiming it was central government data.
Mr. Roy asserted that Bengal performed better than Gujarat also in other areas including MSME sector and manday generation in MGNREGA project.
“Bengal has 88 medium and small lakh enterprises, while Gujarat has only 33 lakh,” he said.
TMC spokesperson claimed that at least 2,000 people were killed and nearly 1.5 lakh homeless in just three days in 2002 in Gujarat in the worst case of human rights violation in the country .
With the BJP bringing a number of national-level leaders to the state ahead of assembly elections slated for April-May next year, Roy claimed that a group of foreigners along with their local associates were trying destabilize the state while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee established peace and ensured development after coming to power in 2011.
“These foreigners are unaware of the heritage, heritage and culture of Bengal. They are trying to create political divisions,” he said.
Mr Roy said party workers have been urged to remain vigilant to see if “outsiders” are trying to provoke conflict or divide people or engage in the horse trade.
Regarding the investigations by various central agencies into the alleged smuggling of coal and livestock and other issues in the state, he said: “There is nothing new. These agencies become active every time. let elections come. “
About Suvendu Adhikary holding public meetings for a few days without the TMC banner, Roy said: “He is an important leader and is a member of the party’s highest decision-making body, in addition to being a high ranking minister. . “
Mr Adhikary, who played a crucial role in the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram that helped Mamata Banerjee rise to power in the state, was also absent at a recent cabinet meeting.
Asked about All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) planning to contest the assembly elections in the state, the TMC spokesman said it was the prerogative of that party but that he did not had no influence in Bengal.
