Bengal polls: Abhishek Banerjee targets Modi; accuses PM of blocking state's funds

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of blocking central funds meant for West Bengal. His remarks came on a day when the prime minister addressed a rally in the poll-bound state, urging voters to end the TMC’s 15-year “maha jungle-raj.”

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“You blocked funds meant for the people of Bengal and harassed them. You inflicted miseries on the people of Bengal over the last five years, and so your party will be reduced to below 50 seats in the assembly polls,” Banerjee said while addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Nadia district.


His aunt, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee—who also heads the TMC—has repeatedly accused the BJP-led Union government of withholding central funds for the state and has made the issue a key poll plank.

The Diamond Harbour MP further asserted that the fall of the BJP-led government at the Centre would begin in West Bengal.

“In the coming days, the people of Bengal will throw you out of power in Delhi after electing the TMC for the fourth time. ‘Poriborton habe’ (there will be change at the Centre),” he remarked.

On the recent Enforcement Directorate raids at the Kolkata office of I-PAC—a leading political consultancy that has been working with the TMC since 2021—Banerjee accused the Centre of “misusing” central agencies against opposition-run states.

“They tried to steal our data before the elections, but we have people’s support. They (the BJP) have everything—from the ED and CBI to a section of the media. They put central agencies behind me before the 2021 elections but failed. Now they are resorting to falsehood,” he stated.

Referring to the ongoing revision of electoral rolls, Banerjee claimed that despite allegations of large numbers of illegal immigrants, the exercise had identified 54 lakh “unmapped voters" in the state.

“Now, unhappy with the findings, they are planning to delete over one crore names from the electoral rolls. We will not allow this to happen,” he alleged.

Buoyed by its success in the recent assembly elections in neighbouring Bihar, the BJP is eyeing its first stint in power in West Bengal, where the TMC, under Mamata Banerjee, has been in office since 2011.

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