West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that she has suffered an injury in her leg after she was pushed by four or five people at a time when there was no police personnel around her. “I suffered an injury in my leg,” Banerjee said pointing at her leg: “See how it is swelling up.”
Earlier today, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo filed her nomination from the Nandigram seat for the Assembly elections in the state. Following this, she visited the Durga Mandir in Shibrampur village.
The “pushing” incident took place near Reyapara when Banerjee was on the way back from the temple visit. Asked if it was a planned attack, she said, “No police official was present. Four-five people intentionally manhandled me in presence of the public. There were no police officials for four-five hours in such a huge public gathering, not even the SP. It was definitely a conspiracy.”
However, according to the police, Banerjee was meeting local voters at the bazar when there was an altercation and the Chief Minister fell down, injuring her leg. She also sustained a slight injury on her head, they said.
Banerjee returned to Kolkata, around 130 km away, where she was taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital.
Meanwhile, a report from Kolkata said West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar reached the SSKM hospital on Wednesday night to see an injured CM Banerjee, amid ‘’go back’’ slogans shouted by TMC supporters gathered there.
The BJP, however, alleged that the CM was trying to turn a “simple accident” into a “pre-planned conspiracy”, and demanded a CBI investigation. “It can happen that she met with an accident but to claim that she was deliberately pushed is not acceptable. She has a lot of security personnel guarding her round the clock,” BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Our didi is perturbed. These are signs of a defeated party and a defeated candidate. She’ll lose from Nandigram and there’ll be a change in West Bengal”
Another BJP leader Arjun Singh said, “She is doing drama only. Three hundred police personnel are providing security to the CM. She is doing this to get sympathy. If she was really attacked, why didn’t the police arrest the person who did it?”
Even Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called it a “siyasi pakhand” (political hypocrisy) to gain sympathy.
West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning 27 March. The tenure of the 16th Assembly will end on 30 May.