[ad_1]
By Press Trust of India: The BJP on Monday questioned whether the Trinamool Congress had deposited the requisite amount of money in the state coffers to avail police forces deployed at its ongoing mass outreach campaign.
The saffron camp also accused the state’s ruling party of misusing state apparatus for its political programme.
The allegation drew sharp reactions from the TMC, which dubbed it baseless and wondered who bears the cost of the service of central forces availed by the BJP leaders in the state.
The TMC last week started its much-touted mass outreach campaign ‘Trinamool ey Nabajowar’ (new wave in Trinamool) from Cooch Behar district ahead of the panchayat polls in the state, with party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee leading it from the front.
Banerjee had said he will be travelling more than 3500 km across the state from the Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state to Kakdwip in the south.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the police personnel are being deployed at the TMC’s party programme at the cost of the security of common people.
“Currently, the campaign of the TMC is going on in North Bengal. Most of the police stations are running short of staff due to the heavy deployment of police personnel at the party programme of the TMC. Besides, is the TMC paying the state government for availing the security of police personnel at the programme? If not, then this is a blatant misuse of public money and state resources,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari shot off a letter to state Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya, inquiring whether the TMC has deposited the money required to get police personnel at the TMC programme.
“The TMC uses the police force as a private security agency. If he (DGP) fails to inform me, I will move court on behalf of the people of West Bengal against using the state exchequer as TMC’s piggy bank,” he told reporters.
Reacting to BJP’s allegations, the TMC said Abhishek Banerjee gets Z+ security cover and the police made arrangements according to the protocol of a person who gets it.
“The BJP should first answer who pays for the cost of central forces that BJP leaders, who don’t have any mass base or don’t hold public office, have been availing for the last few years. Even BJP leaders, whom nobody knows, move with security cover provided by central police forces,” TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
Abhishek Banerjee, while addressing a rally at Itahar during the day, without naming Adhikari, mocked him over his accusations.
“The more he makes such allegations, the faster the BJP will lose public support in the state,” Banerjee said.
[ad_2]
