Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee Hit Out At BJP From Joint Rally

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joined her nephew and Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on his state-wide campaign called Jono Sanjog Yatra as part of the Trinamool Nabo Jowar campaign, which the party is running to prepare for the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.

After welcoming Mamata Banerjee to the campaign, which has seen him travel all the way from north Bengal to 'junglemahal', Abhishek Banerjee taunted the opposition BJP, saying, "When we started our campaign, my critics and the opposition leaders in Bengal had made a huge fuss about it, they had claimed that I wouldn't manage to stay on the road for even six days, let alone 60. However, today is our 32nd day on the road."

"In this time period, we have faced storms, searing heat, thundershowers, oppositions' taunts, CBI's harassment, but none have been able to stop Trinamool Congress' resolve," he added.

Accusing the BJP of misuse of central agencies, Abhishek Banerjee said, "Opposition leaders had thought that by letting CBI and ED behind me, they would break my resolve. However, they don't realise that 'Nabo Jowar' has now become 'Jono Jowar'."

Ahead of the panchayat elections, the Trinamool Congress wants to reach out to all sections of voters, including many who have switched to voting for the BJP. Recollecting the meeting with an RSS worker in Purba Bardhhaman, Mr Banerjee said, "An RSS worker met me and requested for streetlights in his area. I felt proud that even RSS and BJP workers were coming to us, and rather than believing in PM Modi's 'double-engine' government, they are trusting Mamata Banerjee's 'single-engine' government."

Mamata Banerjee also hit out at the BJP, the Left and the Congress.

"Today you are busy maligning Bengal. Let us remind the Raam-Baam-Shyam, that even if someone gets a score of 90, we can increase 1-2 marks to make it 92. However, if you score 0, how can I give you 90," Mamata Banerjee said.

"You can continue abusing Trinamool Congress, that might be your right. But all you are doing is spreading hatred. We are Trinamool, we aren't like the state government in Gujarat or UP or Kerala, who are out for revenge. We don't want revenge, we want change instead," the Chief Minister added.

Blaming the BJP for the ethnic violence in Manipur, Mamata Banerjee said, "BJP, now, is trying to incite violence in Bengal, on the same lines as Manipur. They want to separate the hills from Bengal. They want to create fissures between Rajbanshis and Kamatapuris. They want to incite violence between Kurmis and adivasis. For this violence, BJP is pumping huge money."