Mamata Banerjee Campaigns For Samajwadi Party, Says BJP Is "Losing" In UP

Describing herself as a "fighter", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers after she arrived for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in support of the Samajwadi Party.

"I was coming from the airport yesterday and going to the (Dashashwamedh) ghat. Midway, some BJP workers, who have nothing in their brain except violence, stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back," Ms Banerjee claimed.

"It was then that I thought, they are going out (of power). They are completely gone, their defeat is imminent," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said.

Ms Banerjee said she was in Uttar Pradesh for a political meeting and wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was so bothered about it.

"I am not a coward, I am a fighter. I have fought for a long time. The CPM attacked me in the past, I was attacked with sticks and shots were fired at me several times in the past. But I never bowed down," she added.

Ms Banerjee said when "abuses were being hurled" at her on Wednesday, she got down from the car and stood silent for some time to see what the attackers could do.

"I wanted to see what you can do. How much strength you have. But you are a coward. I saw it and thanked them. They attacked my car, pushed me. I said thank you because I knew the message is clear that the BJP is losing, why else attack me," she claimed.

She said if her coming to Uttar Pradesh once can ensure BJP's defeat, she would come to the state a thousand times.

"It's not so easy, Khela hoga," Ms Banerjee said, referring to the Hindi variation of the Bangla phrase which was the poll anthem of the TMC in West Bengal elections last year in which it defeated the BJP.
 

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