Referring to the arrest of Jharkhand MLAs with hordes of cash in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee said it was done to prevent the fall of the Hemant Soren government.
Kolkata: Sounding the poll bugle in a way, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, other leaders and herself will come together to put up a united Opposition front for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Banerjee said, “All of us will be in one side and BJP on the other. I, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren and others will come together for the 2024 polls. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. ‘Khela Hobe’ in 2024.”
The phrase ‘Khela Hobe (Game on)’ was widely used by Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) before the state Assembly election, which saw the BJP being defeated despite a battery of central ministers and leaders making a beeline to the state to woo voters.
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Banerjee added, “The BJP thinks they can threaten us with CBI and ED. The more they pursue such tricks, the more they will get closer to defeat in the next year’s Panchayat election and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
The Chief Minister also hit out at the BJP for its alleged horse trading in Jharkhand. Referring to the arrest of Jharkhand MLAs with hordes of cash in West Bengal, Banerjee said it was done to prevent the fall of the Hemant Soren government.
Notably, three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand were arrested after their vehicle was intercepted at Panchla in West Bengal’s Howrah district on July 30. Nearly Rs 49 lakh in cash was found in the car. The legislators said the money was meant to buy sarees for an Adivasi festival in their state.
Banerjee also slammed the state unit of BJP and a section of the media for allegedly unleashing a “malicious campaign” against her and her party leaders following the arrest of senior TMC leaders.
