nAfter Tuesday’s “tight-slap” came the Thursday’s “sit-ups.” Mounting a no-holds-barred attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for linking some of Trinamool Congress candidates to coal mafia, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dared the PM to prove his charges or do sit-ups.
“I challenge you Mr Modi to prove what you have said about my candidates accusing them of having links with the coal mafia. Prove your charges and I will withdraw all my 42 candidates from the electoral fray. If you can’t, then you will have to hold your ears and do one hundred sit-ups before the public,” she said
Modi had said, “TMC mafia raj is continuing in the neighbouring coal mines and their leaders are minting money while the coal workers are not getting their pays.”
Modi had added the TMC had made mafia a part of its leadership, prompting Banerjee to make the “slap” remarks.
A couple of days ago, the Chief Minister told a public rally that Modi deserved a tight-slap of democracy in his face.
Reacting to her Tuesday’s remarks, the Prime Minister told an election rally in Purulia that he was ready to take a slap from the Chief Minister which would come to him as blessings. “I respect you (Banerjee) as Didi. But you offer me slaps in return. But that slap will come to me as blessings,” Modi said ruing, “Mamata Banerjee does not accept me as the Prime Minister as she is more respectful for the Pakistani Prime Minister than me.”
He said that Mamata’s soaring anger graph was proportionate to the fall in her popularity level. “Didi knows that the she is losing popularity fast which makes her angry,” adding the remarks made by her in anger were only the proof of her arrogant character.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister also leveled similar charges against the Prime Minister.
The Chief Minister clarified her position on Thursday saying she had never spoken of any “physical slap.” She said, “I did not talk of a physical slap. He is saying that I will slap him. But try to understand the language. I only said that he will get a slap of democracy for telling lies.”
Mounting a counter attack on the Prime Minister for his “kartut” (misdeeds), Mamata said she had the evidences to show how some people got themselves cleared of riot charges. In an apparent reference to the Modi’s chief ministerial days Mamata said she had a “pen drive that will tell the story of how some people used pressure to get themselves cleared of the charges of riots against them.”
She said Modi and the BJP were the biggest threat to the nation and “if he was not removed from power then there will be no freedom, democracy, no religion or no free caste in the country,” adding the Constitution and all the constitutional institutions would be destroyed by the saffron outfit.
Mamata got Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu by her side calling upon the people of Bengal to vote for her.
Addressing a rally at Kharagpur which has sizeable Telugu population, Naidu said Mamata was the “Bengal tigress and deserved to so that both India and the State could prosper.”
