Lok Sabha election: Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of paying money to buy votes

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections in Durgapur.

West Bengal chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  are paying money to people to buy votes.

Speaking at an election rally at Arambagh in support of Trinamool Congress candidate Mitali Bagh, Mamata Banerjee alleged that the saffron party is paying between ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 to people to purchase their votes. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections here.

“The BJP leaders at present are former CPI(M) ‘harmads’ (anti-socials). If you don’t want a reign of terror to usher in, then refrain from voting for the BJP”, Banerjee was quoted as saying by PTI.

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She also said that the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are meant to change the power equation in Delhi. “This power equation in Delhi has to be altered and change has to be brought in”, she said.

Further criticising the BJP, Mamata said the saffron party is in the habit of “defaming” the people of Bengal. “See how they have dishonoured the women of Sandeshkhali by paying money to make false rape allegations”, she alleged.

Training guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said that the prime minister is resorting to lies from morning till night.

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“The BJP will drive away people using CAA and NRC. Minorities, advasis and OBCs will face existential crisis if Modi comes to power again”, she said.

In March, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government implemented the CAA, which makes it easier for non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – who entered India before December 31 – to get Indian citizenship. The development came four years after Parliament passed the law in December 2019.

The notification of the Act triggered criticism from Opposition leaders, who claimed that the notified rules were “unconstitutional”, “discriminatory” and violative of the “secular principle of citizenship” enshrined in the Constitution.

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