New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) Trinamool Congress MP, Kirti Azad, on Wednesday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is destined to be the next Prime Minister, while launching a sharp attack on the BJP.

Speaking to IANS outside Parliament, Azad stated, “There are not any allegations against the ECI, the allegations are against the BJP. However, everyone thinks that all these allegations are against the ECI. It is because the ECI is the right hand of the BJP, through which they are trying to fight the elections.”

He further criticised the BJP, stating, “So, the unsuccessful attempt of the BJP is in progress. You all know that a woman Cabinet Minister of West Bengal was attacked recently. The BJP can stoop to any level. We have seen that whenever the BJP comes to power, lynchings start happening. Riots start happening. We have seen everything."

"They can try anything and conduct Assembly elections in seven, eight or two phases, but they can't win West Bengal,” he added.

Azad also dismissed claims about the BJP’s prospects in West Bengal and praised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s leadership.

“The misconception that Prime Minister Modi and others have is that they are winning in West Bengal, but they are not. They are not winning because Mamata Banerjee is destined to be the next Prime Minister. Considering the work she has done in Bengal, no chief minister in the country can match her performance,” he said.

On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress released its list of candidates, containing 291 names, for the two-phase April elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly and set the scene for a "battle royale" in Bhabanipur constituency in south Kolkata, from where CM Banerjee will contest the polls again.

As per the candidates' list released by CM Banerjee, she will be contesting from Bhabanipur this time as well, where she will face BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.

On Monday, the BJP announced its first list of 144 candidates and nominated Adhikari from his current constituency of Nandigram in East Midnapore district, as well as from Bhabanipur.

This is the second time that Banerjee will be pitted against her former aide Adhikari.

Adhikari was elected as a legislator from Nandigram for the second consecutive time in 2021, defeating Banerjee.

Later, Banerjee was elected from Bhabanipur in a bye-election and retained the post of Chief Minister for the third consecutive term.

While the Trinamool will be contesting from 291 constituencies, they have kept three Assembly constituencies in the North Bengal hills, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong, for their political ally in the hills, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), founded by Anit Thapa, who is also the Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

At Nandigram, Trinamool fielded erstwhile local BJP leader and also a close confidant of Adhikari, Pabitra Kar, who rejoined the Trinamool just a couple of hours before the Chief Minister released the party candidates' list.

Meanwhile, aiming for total transparency in the system of electoral management for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal next month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has now decided to introduce a system for overseeing daily the functioning of the general observers, police, and expenditure observers appointed for the elections in the state.

A special monitoring cell under the leadership and direct control of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will be created, which will not only oversee the functioning of these ECI-appointed observers but also send a report every day on its observations to the ECI headquarters in New Delhi, informed an insider from the CEO’s office.

--IANS

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