Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mithun Chakraborty on Wednesday claimed that 38 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs are in touch with the Opposition.
Calling it 'breaking news', the former TMC leader claimed, "Do you want to hear breaking news? At this moment, 38 TMC MLAs have very good relations with us, out of which 21 are in direct (contact with us)."
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre saying it was 'not easy to break Bengal" with the help of investigative agencies.
Claiming that the "BJP has no work" except toppling governments, Banerjee said the ruling party at the Centre aimed to topple democratically-elected state governments.
"They (BJP) have no work, their job is to take over the state governments through 3-4 agencies. They've taken Maharashtra, now Jharkhand but Bengal has defeated them. It's not easy to break Bengal as you have to fight the Royal Bengal Tiger first," Banerjee said.
The West Bengal chief minister claimed that BJP would not return to power after the 2024 general elections. "I believe that BJP will not come in 2024 (to power). Unemployment in India is increasing by 40 per cent but it decreased by 45 per cent in Bengal," she said.
Partha Chatterjee, the Bengal Industries Minister, was arrested on Saturday on money-laundering charges linked to the SSC (School Service Commission) scam. He was accused of a role in alleged illegal appointments of schoolteachers and staff in government-run schools when he was the state Education Minister.
Chatterjee's close associate Arpita Mukherjee was also arrested as part of the ED's investigation into the scam.
Chakraborty was among the BJP's star campaigners in the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal but had restrained from making public appearances until now after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won 213 seats in the West Bengal Assembly election and the BJP garnered 77 seats in the 294-seat state assembly.
( With inputs from ANI )
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