Abhishek Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari in war of words

KOLKATA/SILIGURI: “If AWAS homes were provided, these children would not have been injured. They would have had a shelter over them and not been admitted to hospital today. Who is responsible for this?” Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said in Jalpaiguri on Monday.

“If Centre can prove that they have given 10 paisa for the AWAS list since 2017, I will quit politics… But this is not a BJP govt that if you do not vote, they will withhold people’s money. You will get the services irrespective of your vote to us. Mamata Banerjee will still come from 600km away and stand with you to give services,” Banerjee said.

The Trinamool leader was responding to a barb from state leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari barb, who was also in Jalpaiguri to meet those affected by the storm.

“Eight hundred houses in three villages have been damaged. PM Narendra Modi has given Rs 45,000 crore to build 42 lakh houses in the state. So why will there be raw houses? In fact, this Trinamool has stolen all the money,” Adhikari had said, adding: “We will move dangerous patients elsewhere. No one will get well here. There is no neurosurgeon here. No bones will be fixed here.”

The BJP leader also criticised CM Mamata Banerjee’s decision to rush to Jalpaiguri to oversee rescue work, even though his party colleague Amit Malviya had on Sunday evening questioned why the CM hadn’t gone to Jalpaiguri.

A couple of hours later, without naming Adhikari, Banerjee alleged that BJP believed in the culture of photo ops. “If he is claiming that the chief minister has come all the way from Kolkata at 12 in the night to create this incident into a media spectacle and just to ensure that she is getting clicked, what stopped the PM from following the same principle? What stopped him from coming and seeing the actual condition of the people? BJP should be the last one to talk about publicity and photo ops. Their entire politics has been revolving around PR and photo ops for the last ten years...They (people) will give a befitting reply in the days to come,” the Trinamool leader said.

“BJP’s state president lives in Balurghat, which is 300km from Jalpaiguri. To commute via road, it takes 4.5 hours... If he wanted, he could have reached by 8-9pm (on Sunday)... The distance between Jalpaiguri and Kalighat is 620km but Mamata Banerjee could get here,” he added.

“Those who are giving guarantees are just giving it in just tweets from a distance of 2,000km... Our guarantee is to save people’s lives, give them all medical assistance and ensure they return home after recovering as soon as possible... We didn’t get the outcome that we expected in Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri in 2019 and 2021 but the one who rushed here is Mamata Banerjee,” he said.

Governor CV Ananda Bose arrived at Bagdogra airport in the morning and immediately left for Jalpaiguri. “I would like to assess the situation for myself. That’s why I have come here,” he said.