On May 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her handling of cyclone Amphan. However, it took less than 24 hours for the BJP leadership to attack the TMC government for "failing the state".
Sources told that the BJP state leadership, led by Dilip Ghose and state in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya, have continued with their attacks against the West Bengal government despite the public praise of Banerjee by the Prime Minister.
"West Bengal government is focused on scoring political brownie points even in the times of disaster. @MamataOfficial will politicize everything, not let BJP leaders reach people and will herself do nothing to ease the pain. Her government has failed the state. West Bengal has emerged as a flashpoint between BJP and state government," tweeted Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP leader and state in-charge.
This came soon after BJP leaders in the state ventured out to take stock of the impact of cyclone Amphan in their respective constituencies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had after undertaking an aerial survey of cyclone-hit West Bengal shown appreciation of the state government and said Bengal had to fight two wars one against COVID and another against cyclone and that the state has tried sufficiently under the leadership of Mamata to fight them.
Explaining the state leadership's aggressive stance, despite Prime Minister's favourable comments for Mamata, a senior BJP leader said, "We are trying to work for the welfare of people of Bengal and ready to co-operate the state government during this tough time. While it is reeling under the impact of COVID, Amphan has only aggravated the situation. But the state government is not ready. Our leaders' movement was halted and blocked by Mamata administration."
BJP Bengal President took to social media to protest against unwarranted restrictions imposed on party MPs and leaders.
"On the way to survey the affected areas of Mahishadal-Haldia-Contai; In Beobarhat GP, Paramanandapur, block- Nandakumar area huge battalions of police have taken siege of the place and are obstructing us from moving forward," tweeted Ghose. Vijayvargiya even accused the Chief Minister of running "an autocratic government" while mentioning that BJP MP Shantanu Thakur was stopped from performing relief work.
The BJP that claims to have lost several of its cadre in political violence is raring to unseat the TMC government after last year's Lok Sabha polls where it had won 18 seats and hopes to do well in the impending assembly polls.
The BJP and TMC have been aggressively taking each other on in a battle to gain control over the state. As a senior leader puts it, "praising Mamata on handling situations in the state doesn't mean that we will stop acting as a responsible opposition. We will continue to highlight the failures of the Mamata government."
( With inputs from ANI )