Mamata Banerjee's democratic credentials are on test, says BJP as 18 die in West Bengal panchayat polls
ALSO READ: West Bengal panchayat results: ‘TMC resides in heart of…’ Mamata Banerjee as party sweeps Bengal rural polls "I hope that Mamata ji will allow all 4 MPs to visit the violence-affected areas in West Bengal. Mamata ji, your democratic credentials are further on the test.
We are senior members of the Parliament and have the right to visit these areas and see for ourselves." Among others, Prasad also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his silence on the polling violence in West Bengal. "I want to ask Rahul Gandhi, why is he silent when his party workers are getting beaten in Bengal? The murder of 48 people during the West Bengal Panchayat elections is a sickening sign of a shameful democracy." Besides Prasad, the team includes Satyapal Singh, Rajdeep Roy, and Rekha Verma.
The violence, which rocked the panchayat polls on Saturday, had claimed at least 15 lives while three more were murdered on counting day on Wednesday. Since elections were announced last month, at least 33 people have lost their lives in poll-related violence, with the ruling party suffering 60 percent of the deaths. Meanwhile, TMC mocked the fact-finding team and said it was an attempt to divert attention from the party's humiliating defeat.
“They should first send a fact-finding team to Manipur, which is burning for the last two months. The BJP's fact-finding team in West Bengal is an attempt to divert attention from its organizational failure," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
Read more on livemint.com
