Skip to main content

'Mamata Banerjee Not God': Bengal Minister Agnimitra Paul On Poll Results

BJP leader Agnimitra Paul, who on Saturday joined new West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's core team by swearing in as a minister, told NDTV in an interview that the Trinamool Congress leaders treated Mamata Banerjee as God, but the recent poll drubbing has shown that she is neither a divine being nor above the law.

"Mamata Banerjee has already, you know, got the answer. She said so much, Abhishek Banerjee said so much. But the people of Bengal have given their mandate, and Mamata Banerjee should realise she is not above the law. She is not above India's Constitution, and she is not God. Her colleagues, her MLAs and MPs, probably tried to please her by saying that she is Maa Sarada. Maa Sarada is our God. And probably she was very happy. She never, you know, never tried to stop them. So to Mamata Banerjee, I have nothing to say. The people of West Bengal have said everything," she said.

Adhikari took the oath as the chief minister of West Bengal on Saturday, in the presence of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apart from Agnimitra Paul, Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Kshudiram Tudu, and Ashok Kirtania also took the oath of office as Adhikari's Cabinet ministers.

Also read: Suvendu Adhikari Takes Oath As BJP's First Bengal Chief Minister

Asked if the BJP should have chosen a woman chief minister, Paul said Adhikari's experience in politics led to his appointment.

"It is completely a decision of our seniors, honourable Prime Minister, honourable Home Minister, and our President, our LOP (Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari) - of course, now he is the chief minister... People will have many opinions. If you have a woman chief minister, they will say that you should have, for a change, a male minister. So I think you need a person who has a history of politics for the last 30 years, who has led the party inside the Vidhan Sabha, outside the Vidhan Sabha, and it's a complete team effort. I don't think anybody would have been better than Mr Shubhendu Adhikari," she said.

Latest and Breaking News on NDTV

She also talked about what should be the new government's priorities.

Also read: Has Mamata Banerjee Finally Conceded? Updated X Bio Drops A Big Hint

"The first thing is that the law and order need to be brought, the institution of the police, which has been completely politicised by the previous government, politicisation of police or the bureaucracy should be stopped...Number two is infrastructural development. There is no water, no housing, no washroom, no road, no drainage system, so infrastructural development needs to be there. And third is jobs. We need to bring back all our children who have gone to other states to work," she added.

The BJP won 207 seats in the West Bengal elections, wresting power from Mamata Banerjee, who was hoping to get her fourth term in office. The Trinamool Congress won 80 seats.

Suvendu Adhikari, a former Mamata Banerjee confidante, spearheaded the BJP's campaign with his Hindutva and anti-infiltration push.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/bjqIoGr
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PM Modi To Reschedule 3-Nation Europe Visit As Tensions With Pakistan Soar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put his three-nation Europe visit on hold as tensions between India and Pakistan have surged in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed by Pak-linked terrorists in a religiously-motivated terror attack. India responded on Wednesday with precision missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PM Modi, who is closely-monitoring the situation, has reportedly asked for his visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands, which was due next week, to be rescheduled. As per his original schedule Prime Minister Modi was to commence his official visit to the three nations on May 13. He was also going to participate in the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 15 and 16. All three countries have been informed about the change in PM Modi's schedule. They have also been appraised about the current situation between India and Pakistan. Last month too, on the day of the Pahalga...
Post a Comment
Read more

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delhi Air On Brink Of Turning "Severe", Most Polluted In India

Delhi's air quality was on the brink of the 'severe' category on Sunday with an overall AQI reading of 382 - the worst recorded in the country for the day. Fifteen monitoring stations of the city recorded air quality levels in the 'severe' zone, having AQI readings over 400, data showed. The city also recorded its lowest nighttime temperature so far, as thick smog and haze shrouded it in a dense cover during the morning and evening hours. The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday was 16.5 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above normal, according to the weather department. The national capital's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 382, worsening from 316 the previous day. The locations where air pollution levels reached the 'severe' zone are Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, NSIT Dwarka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar, Okhla Phase 2, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, Rohini, Wazirpur and Vivek Vihar...
Post a Comment
Read more