NEW DELHI: Battleground Bengal saw another day of attacks and counterattacks as Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and top BJP leaders traded barbs at election rallies on Tuesday.
While Mamata accused Union home minister Amit Shah of hatching conspiracies to harass the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) took a dig at TMC chief’s temple visits and her reciting of the “Chandi Paath” in election rallies.
The West Bengal chief minister trained her guns at the Union home minister and unleashed a volley of charges against him.

“Amit Shah is getting frustrated as there is a poor turnout at his rallies. Instead of running the country, he is sitting in Kolkata and hatching a conspiracy to harass TMC leaders. What do they want? Do they want to kill me? Do they think that they will win this election by killing me? They are wrong,” she said at a rally in Mejia.
The TMC chief threatened to stage a protest outside Election Commission’s office if the BJP “continued to interfere with the functioning of the poll panel.”
Addressing a public meeting in Bankura on a wheelchair, Mamata Banerjee said, “Farmers have been protesting for six months now, however, the ministers are not holding talks with them. All the ministers are here, in Bengal, where they have booked hotels and are conspiring to destroy me and TMC and how to file cases against TMC with the help of the Election Commission.”
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Banerjee said, “Modi babu is building a stadium in his name. Will make a road in his name. After that, he will name this country after him and Bharatbarsha will not be Bharatbarsha anymore.”
The BJP counter attack was led by defence minister Rajnath Singh who said the “khela” (game) that will be played in West Bengal after the BJP’s victory in the assembly election will be that of development and peace.

“Post-independence, the kind of development that should have been done in West Bengal, has not been done. Ruling governments destroyed the state. Be it CPM or TMC, poverty and unemployment are rampant in the state,” Singh said during a public rally in West Midnapore.
Claiming that the Mamata Banerjee government has not been able to maintain law and order in West Bengal, he said, “Go to Uttar Pradesh or any other state where BJP is in power, there is peace.”
At an election rally at Balarampur in Purulia district, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath took a dig at Mamata and said she has been forced to take to ‘Chandi Path’ publicly and visit temples due to the change in people’s mindset after the BJP came to power at the Centre.

“A sect of people was created in the country, before the BJP-led government assumed power at the Centre in 2014, who believed that even visiting temples would pose a threat to their secular credentials. A change has come … Even Mamata didi has started visiting temples and taken to ‘Chandi Path’. Isn’t this a change? This is new India. Each and every person has to go to God,” Adityanath said.
BJP president J P Nadda held a a roadshow in Bishnupur area of Bankura district where he announced that Mamata Didi’s game was over.
(With inputs from agencies)