Ravi Shankar Prasad tears into Mamata for ‘forcing’ family to abandon BJP

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad today attacked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee using very sharp words for what he said was the pressure brought on the adivasi family to renege its connection with his party and become supporters of Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

“It is a matter of concern that the West Bengal, which used to suffer from the oppression of the Left parties, is today suffering from the oppression of the Trinamool Congress,” Prasad, who is also the law minister, said.

“We condemn it outright. Such actions will not stop the expansion of the BJP (in West Bengal),” he said.

Today morning, Raju Mahali and wife Geeta Mahali — with whom BJP president Amit Shah had lunch with last week in a publicised event — joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of West Bengal Tourism Minister Goutam Deb in Siliguri.

The two spoke only a couple of lines to the assembled media and did not answer media’s questions.

Prasad said BJP workers tried to get a case of kidnapping registered against Trinamool Congress workers, but the state police did not receive the complaint.

Prasad said Bannerjee seems to be flustered by the investigations going on against her in various allegations of corruption.

“Why is an ordinary adivasi family having to bear the brunt of this anger. If she thinks her anger is going to influence the investigations, she is wrong, because the investigations are led by evidence,” he said.

The BJP has emerged as a strong contender, practically the main opposition, in West Bengal in recent years after Mamata Bannerjee was able to dislodge the decades-old rule of the Left Front in the state.