Mamata Banerjee accused the centre of sending "officers from Delhi" to allegedly weaken her campaign
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today accused the BJP of running a "parallel government" in the state and using officers for political purposes. "We are an elected government in Bengal, but the BJP is bypassing us, sending people from Delhi and running a parallel government here," Ms Banerjee said at a public meeting in Nadia's Gayeshpur today.
"This is unconstitutional," she added.
Ms Banerjee also reacted to comments by the Election Commission's special observer for Bengal Ajay V Nayak, who compared the state to Bihar. "They are talking like politicians, but BJP will not get a single seat in Bengal," she said.
Mr Nayak on Saturday compared the election scenario in West Bengal to that of Bihar over 10 to 15 years ago, and claimed that its people "do not have any faith in the state police". "The (poll) situation in Bengal is like Bihar's 10 to 15 years ago. But if the people of Bihar could change that situation, I don't see why the people of Bengal can't," he had said, adding strong deployment of central forces was required at booths across Bihar back then.
Ms Banerjee today said, "There is an elected government in this state. You have elected me for five years; mine is a democratic government, but they are bypassing the state government... This is not within the constitutional framework."
"They are sending people from Delhi and trying to see how they can help the BJP. Everyday, new officers are been changed. Everyday, officers are saying anything they like. They are maligning Bengal," Ms Banerjee said.
"They are comparing Bengal to Bihar. The retired officers are talking like politicians. I respect officers, but you are trying to control the service officers and you are bad-mouthing Bengal. Remember, the people of Bengal will not tolerate all this, no matter how much you try," Ms Banerjee said.
On February 3, the Bengal Chief Minister found herself on a collision course with the centre after a huge showdown between the state police and officials of the CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI officials, who had come to question Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar on two Ponzi schemes, were temporarily detained by the police. She had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of political vendetta, and started an overnight dharna to "save the Constitution".
"You can even get five crore policemen from Delhi, but you will not get a single seat. You will get zero," the chief minister said in the rally today.