South Dinajpur:
Another Mamata Banerjee man and more provocative words. This time it was West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra who went on a rant during a public rally on Monday attacking the state's election commission chief, the CPM, the Congress, the BJP and anyone else in between.
In South Dinajpur, Mr Mitra stood on a stage, mic in hand and thundered, "The Election Commissioner went to the Supreme Court to conduct elections; the public must pull her down when we win the polls." Ms Banerjee's government has been at loggerheads with the state poll panel and its chief, Mira Pandey, over how to conduct the panchayat or local elections, being held in five phases right now. They have been violent so far and the Chief Minster has blamed the commission.
On Twitter, Derek O'Brien, the suave face of Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress faced a barrage of criticism and admitted, "Yes...a few bad apples. Disapprove such provocative hyperbole."
As the fourth phase of elections was being conducted in the state, Mr Mitra also raged against political rivals suggesting that the BJP, the CPM and the Congress, which was an ally till last year's walkout of the UPA by Ms Banerjee, should form a Maoist party. Individual leaders came in for more attack. He likened former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPM to the "head of a herd of elephants" and said, "he could not even win elections."
His attack on CPM leader Biman Bose and Deepa Dasmunshi of the Congress were personal and offensive.
Mr Mitra is not the first Trinomool leader to have made a shockingly provocative speech in these panchayat elections. On Sunday, Trinamool legislator Monirul Islam threatened to behead a Congress leader.
Last week, a local Trinamool leader Anubrata Mandal had suggested that bombs be hurled at cops and the houses of independents be burned down.