A day after Samajwadi Party (SP) leadership said West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee would campaign for the party in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP leadership in West Bengal said her campaigning would only help the BJP in the election.
West Bengal BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the BJP leadership in Uttar Pradesh would not call Ms. Banerjee “bahirgata [outsider]” and allow her helicopter to land in the State.
Mr. Adhikari, who is the most vocal critic of the Trinamool Congress chairperson, described her as “anti- Hindu” , blamed her for the post poll violence in the State. “ Sanatanis [Hindus] of Uttar Pradesh will not vote for her”.
On Tuesday, SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda met Ms. Banerjee at her residence in Kolkata and said she would hold a joint virtual meeting and press conference with his party president, Akhilesh Yadav, on February 8 in Lucknow.
Mr. Adhikari said Mr. Nanda had become irrelevant in politics. He refuted the SP leader’s claims that Ms. Banerjee had become a face against the BJP in the entire country.
On the issue of proposed amendment to the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, Mr. Adhikari supported the Centre’s move. He cited the instance of former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, against whom the Centre had moved disciplinary proceedings.
Ms. Banerjee had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to roll back the decision. She said the changes in the rules for Central deputation of IAS officers would affect the States’ administration. She expressed strong reservation to the proposed amendment. It was against the spirit of cooperative federalism, she alleged.
