Biswabrata Goswami
HALDIA, 10 MARCH: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Wednesday that she was attacked by some men (four five men) who pushed her intentionally during her election campaign in Nandigram because of which she was injured in the left leg.
The incident occurred at around 6.15 pm when Miss Banerjee was about to leave the Birulia area near Reyapara after praying at a local temple.
“I was standing outside my car with the door open. I was going to a temple there to offer my prayers. Few people (4 to 5 persons) came around my car and pushed the door. The door hit my leg,” she said.
The chief minister claimed that her leg got swollen because of the injury and she was feeling feverish.
Speaking to reporters, she said that no local police personnel were present at the spot when the incident happened.
“Some people deliberately did it. Of course it is a conspiracy. There were no local policemen around me, neither the district police superintendent was present at the spot,” she claimed.
The chief minister also has severe pain in her waist, TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, who is at present in Nandigram said.
The incident triggered a security scare as the chief minister gets Z-plus protection.
Miss Banerjee had been staying in Nandigram since yesterday and she was supposed to stay the night in Nandigram. She had also plan to return back to Kolkata tomorrow after offering a puja at a local Siva temple on the day of Maha Sivaratri.
But the incident prompted her to change her plan and she was being brought to Kolkata.
A green corridor was created to rush her back to the state capital from Nandigram in East Midnapore, 130 km away.
She was being taken to SSKM hospital for treatment, sources said.
The TMC leadership claimed that the attack was a well-planned conspiracy to ‘remove her’ from the poll campaign. “Many people don’t want her to campaign for the elections. They want her to be removed from their path. That is why she has been attacked by goons. People will give a befitting reply,”state minister and senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee said.
The BJP alleged that Miss Banerjee was trying to turn a simple ‘accident’ into a ‘pre-planned conspiracy’ and demanded a CBI investigation.
BJP’s National general secretary Kailash Vijaybargiya said, “It can happen that she met with an accident but to claim that she was deliberately pushed is not acceptable. She has a lot of security personnel guarding her round the clock.”
“Such tactics to gain sympathy are unacceptable. I think the matter should be handed over to the CBI for investigation,” he said.
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, “such tactics to gain sympathy’ would not work this time. “She is the police minister in the state and if she is not safe then she should immediately resign from the post,” he said.
CPI-M candidate in Nandigram Minakshi Mukherjee wished her speedy recovery, but asserted that “people would not be fooled this time.”
Incidentally, the attack came a day after the Election Commission transferred state DGP Mr Virendra on the basis of complaint of violence lodged by the BJP and the EC has posted IPS officer of 1987 batch P. Nirajnayan.
The Commission has also sought report from the new DGP as well as the local officials with regards to this matter.
