"Matha thanda korey kaj korben (Keep your cool when you exercise your franchise)," Mamata told an election rally urging the Muslim voters.
"I will need 200 plus to form a strong government....," she said.
Reacting to her remarks, Home Minister Amit Shah said, "We do not do politics of majority and minority.Our politics is based issues of development and performance. This type of appeal would also leave its impact on the other side (the majority Hindu voters)". A veiled reference to the possibility of 'reverse polarisation' of the Hindu electorate.
It is argued that Mamata's intent of the letter was to confuse pro-Congress and pro-Left voters just hours before the polling at Nandigram.
'Nandigram debacle' and missing booth agents
Absence of polling agents gives advantage to rivals. Booth management is thus vital in the elections. But it is being alleged that as many as 27 polling agents did the 'vanishing act' on April 1 at Nandigram where Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was locked in perhaps the worst election of her life.
All her rivals have been claiming 'victory' meaning her defeat and the win for Suvendu Adhikari. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 1 (polling day itself) said whatever went on in Nandigram suggested that Mamata has lost her poll.
On Friday, Home Minister Amit Shah made similar claims and punctuated his speech with Sarcastic remarks. "I will share with you all a secret, that Mamata Banerjee has lost the poll in Nandigram".
"Kal jo nazara sabh ne dekha, woh nazara batati hae ki Didi Nandigram mein haar chuki hae, magar kisi ko batana mat".
At Kalchini election rally, Shah also claimed "Out of 60 seats polling in Bengal in first two phases, Lotus symbol is going to shine in more than 50 seats".
Locally, Trinamool leaders and Mamata Banerjee had alleged that polling agents could not turn up because of BJP threats.
However, is is also suggested that in most places, Didi's foot soldiers had deserted her and they did the missing act in clear understanding with the BJP camp.
In fact, it was also reported in the media one agent Mrinal Barik in Boyal village could not be tracked even at his home when a police team along with local Trinamool leaders visited the place.
Nagendranath Tripathi, the newly appointed IPS officer in charge of Nandigram police station, also had assured local Trinamool leaders that security would be provided once polling agents came to do their assigned jobs.
Reports suggested even otherwise in the run up to the polls in last few months, a umber of local Trinamool leaders and even Trinamool Gram Pradhan of Boyal gram panchayat had jumped the ship and decided to back BJP nominee Suvendu Adhikari.
The body language of Suvendu on the polling day was of extreme confidence and he even smiled to journalists' questions and at one point told them that Trinamool camp is unnerved by the 'Jai Shri Ram factor'.
Sheikh Sufiyan, a local Trinamool leader said his party workers were "scared”.
Reports said there was so much tension and charge and counter charge at Nandigram during the polling day that even the BJP could not depute agents in about 25 booths. The CPI-M, which had fielded student leader Meenakshi Mukherjee, also failed to sent its polling agents in over 50 booths.
However, locals say CPI-M failure was due to absence of its cadres and 'organisational weakness'. The BJP's poor show was expected in Muslim-dominated localities.
A rattled Mamata, however, displayed some confidence but perhaps all that came much later.
“Even in Nandigram, I’m telling you, Trinamul will win over 90 per cent of the votes. I am going to win Nandigram with the blessings of Ma-Mati-Manush. Amader Bhalo vote hoechchey. For me, democracy matters. Nandigram and the other seats that voted today, and the 30 seats that did so earlier, for all the seats all over Bengal, I’m showing you V for victory”.
Row over DMK statement on 'torture' to Sushma and Jaitley
New Delhi: A big political row has been triggered vis-a-vis Tamil Nadu politics and the functioning within the BJP after DMK leader Udhayan Stalin claimed that BJP stalwarts SushmaSwaraj and Arun Jaitley died due to "torture" and "pressure" exerted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"@udhaystalin ji please do not use my Mother's memory for your poll propaganda!," tweeted Late Sushma's daughter Bansuri Swaraj.
"Your statements are false! PM @Narendramodi ji bestowed utmost respect and honour on my Mother. In our darkest hour PM and Party stood by us rock solid! Your statement has hurt us@mkstalin," she further wrote.
Slamming Mr Modi on Wednesday during a road show at Dharapuram, Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of DMK chief M K Stalin has said, "There was a person called Sushma Swaraj. She died due to the pressure exerted by Modi. There was a person called Arun Jaitley. He died due to the torture by Modi."
Talking to TV channels, Ms Bansuri said everyone it pretty well that her mother, Sushma Swaraj, was respectedand loved by all.
"It's false and I cannot believe that instead of contesting election on political issues, Udhayanidhi ji is disrespecting the memory of my mother and of Mr. Arun Jaitley to attack the Prime Minister," Bansuri Swaraj said.
She also said such statements come from leaders who do not have issues to highlight and find theground underneath slipping away.
Late Arun Jaitley’s daughter Sonali Jaitley Bakhshi also tweeted: “@Udhaystalin ji, I know there is election pressure – but I won’t stay silent when you lie and disrespect my father’s memory".
She also wrote that the former Finance Minister and PM Modi "shared a special bond that was beyond politics".
"I pray you are lucky enough to know such friendship…”.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is contesting from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni assembly constituency.
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New Delhi/Kolkata: The BJP has alleged that its party candidate Dipak Halder in Diamond Harbour assembly segment that falls under Abhishek Banerjee's parliamentary constituency was assaulted.
The injured Haldar was late rushed to hospital.The region falls are politically sensitive and violence prone 24 South Parganas district.
Out of 31 assembly seats in 24 South Parganas, as many as 16 constituencies have over 30 per cent Muslim population. In fact, seven assembly segments have an estimated over 42 per cent Muslim voters.
(Blogger's video take on Bengal polls for a Hindi TV show)
"Our party nominee (Haldar) was attacked when he was in campaign trail," one party worker told televisionjournalists.
Diamond Harbour goes to the polls on the third phase of voting on April 6.
In 2016, Dipak Halder as Trinamool Congress nominee had won the seat by defeating Abul Hasnat of CPI(M) by a margin of 15037 votes.
It is worth mentioning that the Trinamool detractors have targeted Mamata Banerjee's 'Bhaipo (nephew) in the run up to this year's polls. The BJP is hoping to make a dent in this key assembly segment. Dipak Halder is two-time Trinamool legislator and when he quit the party his tirade was mostly directed against Abhishek Banerjeeand his alleged autocratic style of functioning. The BJP's poll strategists think if anywhere the allegation of corruption and 'tola baazi' (extortion)against 'bhaipo' would come into play, it is the Diamond Harbour seat.
Trinamool Congress has fielded Pannalal Halder for the constituency.
BJP's Nilanjan Roy had polled 4,70,533 votes in 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Diamond Harbouraccounting for 33.39 percent of vote share.Notably, BJP's vote share had swung by 17 percent (as against 2014 show) while the CPI-M votes nosedived by 28 percent.The Congress has been further marginalised and suffered loss of 3.6 per cent of votes.
It is worth mentioning that South 24 Parganas district has witnessed political violence, clashes and even murder and the scale of violence has only increased since the 2018 panchayat elections, whichwas badly rigged by the state's ruling party.
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