"I Pray You Get Well Soon, But...": Amit Shah On Mamata Banerjee's Injury

Home Minister Amit Shah, campaigning for the Bengal election, today responded for the first time to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations of an attack in Nandigram that left her with injuries and her leg in a cast. He brought up political violence in the state and the BJP's allegations of its workers being attacked or killed.

"Mamata-ji has a leg injury, it's not known how she got it. Trinamool Congress calls it a conspiracy, but Election Commission says it was an accident. Didi, you're roaming around in a wheelchair, concerned about your leg, but not the pain of mothers of my 130 workers who were killed," Amit Shah said at a rally in Bankura. 

Mamata Banerjee has been attending Trinamool Congress rallies in a wheelchair since her discharge from hospital on the weekend, two days after she alleged that her leg was crushed when she was greeting people from an SUV she was travelling in after filing her nomination papers from Nandigram. Before being taken to hospital in Kolkata, she alleged that it was a conspiracy.

The BJP accused her of pulling a stunt for sympathy and has asked for a thorough investigation into her allegations as well as the treatment she received.

"I pray you (Mamata Banerjee) get well soon but it would be nice if you also thought about my workers who have died in violence," Amit Shah said.

Addressing a rally at the same time in Purulia, Mamata Banerjee said she was injured in an incident and "some" thought she would be unable to step out with a broken leg.

"It's my good luck that I survived. I have a plaster and I cannot walk... The pain of the people is greater than my pain," she declared.

Yesterday, the Election Commission ruled out an attack, saying it was an accident in which she was injured. The Commission said security was "not properly handled" and the Chief Minister's security protocol was breached.

Mamata Banerjee, who has Z-Plus security, has to travel in a bullet-proof car, but she was not.  Instead, the security in-charge was sitting in the bullet-proof car, said the Commission, ordering action against security in-charge Vivek Sahay.

Bengal will vote in eight rounds from March 27 for a new government. The results will be declared on May 2.