Kolkata, Mar 19 (UNI) West Bengal has become a Modi vs Mamata battleground ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha election scheduled to be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19.
If the showdown between West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party – over the CBI questioning of Kolkata police chief and denial of permissions by the state government to BJP rallies – is anything to go by, the Lok Sabha election 2019 promise to be full of action.
The state, which has witnessed very intense, even violent elections with confrontations between CPI(M) and Congress earlier and now between Trinamool and BJP, is already in the throes of full-fledged poll campaigns.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have made several visits to the sate and have launched sharp attacks on Mamata Banerjee and her government.
From Balakot air strike to signing Rafale deal, the CBI-Kolkata Police face-off to the state government's repeated denials to the BJP's Rath Yatra and several other saffron rallies issue will come up in the campaigning.
Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee had demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.
Ms Banerjee has also called the Rafale deal a “big scam”
NRC, Infiltration, Demonetisation, GST, minority rights versus majority rights, Farmer rights and employment issue will also come up during the campaign..
NRC conducted in Assam has become a key issue in Bengal for both BJP and TMC due to the confusion it spread among refugees from Bangladesh settled in West Bengal.
BJP says Trinamool Congress has encouraged infiltration and turned Bengal into a safe haven for infiltrators.
Demonetisation, GST: Mamata is consistently campaigning against both.
While Ms Banerjee said she has secured the rights of both communities, the BJP alleges that she has compromised the latter in her zeal to protect the former.
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