Bengal CM accuses BJP of residing outsiders as voters in Bhabanipur

Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Friday, indirectly accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to reside outsiders in her native Assembly constituency of Bhabanipur in Kolkata.

The issue of outsiders allegedly becoming voters in Bhabanipur was raised by the Chief Minister earlier this week while she was touring north Bengal to review the situation there, amid the devastation of the hills, Terai and Dooars regions there following the recent floods and landslide.

On Friday afternoon after inaugurating a community Kali Puja pandal in Kolkata, Chief Minister Banerjee also said that what she meant by her "outsiders in Bhabanipur" statement earlier this week.

"As outsiders I did not mean the people residing there. I meant a particular political party, which tries to bring outsiders before any election and try to get them enrolled as voters before any election," she added.

Although, she did not name any particular political party, her clear hint was towards the BJP, which is often termed as outsiders' party in West Bengal" by the Trinamool Congress leadership.

She also said that many outsiders come to the city before any elections.

"Some of them stay in guest houses and hotels. The richer ones purchase flats. But none of them are residents of that locality. How can the same person have names in the voters' lists at two places?" she added.

She also said that in many cases, the slums are dismantled for construction of high-rise buildings where outsiders are purchasing flats.

Incidentally, Bhabanipur is one of the seven Assembly constituencies under the Kolkata (Dakshin) Lok Sabha constituency.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, although the Trinamool Congress candidate Mala Roy got elected for the second time from Kolkata (Dakshin), she trailed in the majority of municipal corporation wards in both Bhabanipur and its adjacent Rashbehari constituency.

She even travelled from Ward Number 73 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation where the Chief Minister is herself a voter.

Recently, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in state Assembly and senior BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari, had repeatedly claimed that Mamata Banerjee will be defeated from Bhabanipur in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

"I defeated her from Nandigram in 2021. Next year, she will be defeated from Bhabanipur. She will be defeated even in her own ward," LoP Adhikari claimed.

--IANS

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