New Delhi, Jan 1 BJP MP Yogender Chandolia on Thursday alleged that the Trinamool Congress has no concrete agenda and is only interested in retaining power, accusing the party of pushing a “vote theft” narrative ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, to create confusion among voters.
The Trinamool Congress has been mounting sustained attacks on the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, claiming that the names of genuine voters are being deleted. The party has also accused the BJP of “misusing” constitutional institutions to influence the electoral process.
Earlier, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee reiterated these allegations after his party’s delegation met the ECI. Following the meeting, Banerjee claimed that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar lost his cool during the interaction and even pointed fingers at the party members.
Responding to these charges, Chandolia told IANS that the Trinamool Congress was selectively raising objections only in West Bengal.
“Abhishek Banerjee should be aware of the entire country’s situation. Around three crore votes are being deleted in places like Uttar Pradesh, under Yogi Adityanath. So why is he raising objections in Bengal only, where the votes of Rohingyas have doubled? Why is there concern over deleting the votes of deceased individuals? They only think that their power is at risk and want to create such an environment,” he said.
Chandolia further said that similar attempts to build a narrative around electoral manipulation had failed elsewhere.
“The opposition tried to form the ‘vote theft’ narrative in Bihar also. The people there rejected them, so they should understand by now that it will not work. People do want the names of the deceased and infiltrators to be deleted, and SIR is doing that, so what is the problem?” he questioned.
The BJP MP also targeted the broader opposition, claiming it lacked unity and direction.
“The opposition has no strategy or agenda against the Narendra Modi government. They deceive each other. I can say with certainty that in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, Congress and CPI(M) will contest separately. They come together only to corner PM Modi, and in the end, when it comes to forming a government, they fight among themselves. They have no common agenda; their only agenda is to seize power,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Banerjee alleged that there was a deliberate conspiracy to malign West Bengal using what he described as a saffron-manufactured “bogey of infiltration”.
He challenged Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to publicly release the list of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas whose names were allegedly found among the 58 lakh names deleted in the draft electoral roll.
Banerjee also questioned the Election Commission’s decision to retrospectively introduce what he termed “logical discrepancies”, under which 1.36 crore voters have reportedly been summoned for hearings on various grounds, including mismatches in parental names and questionable age gaps between parents and children.
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