New Delhi: Amid ongoing Assembly Elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (February 14, 2022) hit out at her Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath and contended the chief minister of the state was not a 'yogi' (monk) but a 'bhogi' (worldly person).
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, who had visited Uttar Pradesh last week to campaign for Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP), also said that her camp decided against contesting polls in UP in the 'larger interest' of the nation.
"Women are burnt alive and peasants get murdered in that state. The CM there is not a 'yogi' but a 'bhogi'. If India has to be saved, UP will have to be saved first," Banerjee said.
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"The TMC did not field any candidate in UP as I did not want Akhilesh Yadav to get weak in any seat. In the first phase, I am hoping Akhilesh's party will win 37 of 57 seats," she told a news channel.
The West Bengal CM also said that she would be visiting Uttar Pradesh again on March 3 to hold a rally in Varanasi.
Congress can go its way
The TMC boss also lashed out at the Congress and stated that no regional outfit shared cordial relations with the grand old party.
"It's the duty of those who claim themselves to be secular to bring everyone on one platform. I had asked Congress and the CPI(M) to join hands... If they do not listen, there is nothing that I can do.
"The Congress can go its way, we will go ours," she said.
Trying to protect India's federal structure
Mamata Banerjee also stressed that it was time to free the country from "seeds of hatred and atrocities" and said that India was "veering towards a presidential form of government, with its Constitution getting demolished".
"I have spoken with Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and her Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao, and we are trying to protect the country's federal structure," she said.
The TMC chief insisted that her party would also do well in the Goa elections.
"Every household in Goa is now aware of the TMC. We will perform well there. This is just the beginning," she said.
Referring to TMC's triumph in Bengal's four municipal corporations, where elections were held on February 12, Banerjee thanked people for casting their votes in favour of her party.
(With agency inputs)
