Kolkata:

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy on Sunday termed the BJP’s manifesto and promises as “hollow” and “jumlas” respectively amid an intense battle for power in West Bengal.

Mr Roy’s remarks come after Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled the BJP’s poll manifesto for the West Bengal Assembly elections in Kolkata on Sunday.

“It is unfortunate that the manifesto for Bengal was released by a Gujarati, not by a local in the presence of a leader from Madhya Pradesh. Does the BJP not have a competent person from Bengal who could release the manifesto and speak in Bengali? Amit Shah spoke only in Hindi. People of Bengal are insulted by this,” Sougata Roy said while speaking to news agency ANI.

“There is nothing new in the manifesto… BJP manifesto is hollow and they are not coming to power so it does not matter what they say,” he added.

He further said that no one should believe in BJP’s promises, adding that the party is yet to fulfill its 2014 Lok Sabha poll promises of giving Rs 15 lakh to every person and generating 2 crore jobs every year.

Commenting on BJP’s promise of making education free for all females, from the kindergarten to post-graduation level in Bengal, Mr Roy said: “Is the education for women in BJP-ruled states free? This is nothing but a ‘jumla‘. BJP will never come to power in Bengal.”

“BJP is talking about 33 per cent reservation to women in state government jobs. But why reservation is not being given to women in Parliament? There is only 11 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Why is this number not being increased?” he asked.

The Lok Sabha MP said the Border Security Force (BSF) has the responsibility to stop the infiltration and it is under the Home Minister. “Why are they doing to stop infiltration then?” he asked.

On BJP’s promise of building three AIIMS in the state, he said: “An AIIMS is being built in Kalyani. It was approved during the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Still, it is not complete. There is nothing coherent on how the plan of three AIIMS will be taken further.”

On implementation of the seventh pay commission for the West Bengal government employees promised by the BJP, Mr Roy said: “They talked about seventh pay commission in Tripura. But it was not increased there.”

“Why are they not making Central government corruption-free? Why are they not disclosing the scam in purchasing Rafale? Why did they not arrest Nirva Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya who fled to other countries after taking money from banks?” he asked.

“It is a big jumla to make Sonar Bangla with Rs 11,000 crore fund. Before making Sonar (Golden) Bangla, they should make Sonar Uttar Pradesh, Sonar Madhya Pradesh first. They got a lot of time there. Then why they are unable to do it? Sonar Bangla will not be made by people from outside Bengal. It will be made by the people of Bengal,” he added.

Elections to the 294-member state Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)