Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's leg in 'serious condition' after alleged attack

Kolkata - Trinamool Congress files complaint, calls it a deep-rooted conspiracy to take her life.

By ANI

Published: Thu 11 Mar 2021, 1:04 PM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's leg is in 'serious condition', informed Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Paresh Pal on Thursday, a day after she was allegedly attacked by unidentified persons.

“The condition of her (Mamata Banerjee) leg is serious. Doctors are treating her. A little more pressure could have resulted in spine injury,” Pal told reporters outside the SSKM hospital in Kolkata.

A photo of Mamata lying with a plastered leg lying in hospital was shared by her nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee on Twitter.

"BJP4Bengal Brace yourselves to see the power of people of BENGAL on Sunday, May 2nd. Get READY!!!" tweeted Abhishek Banerjee along with the photo.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Tathagata Roy and Shamik Bhattacharya also reached the SSKM Hospital to meet the Chief Minister but were unable to meet after they were advised otherwise.

“We wanted to meet her (Mamata Banerjee) but couldn’t because that was not medically advised. We met Aroop Biswas ji and asked him to convey best wishes to her,” Roy said.

The incident allegedly took place at Birulia when Mamata, after her scheduled campaigning programme in Nandigram, was returning to Reyapara.

This comes ahead of the elections for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, which will be held in eight phases starting from March 27. The final round of voting taking place on April 29 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2.

TMC files complaint

Meanwhile, adelegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday filed a complaint at the Election Commission office in Kolkata over the alleged attack on Mamata and called the incident a “deep-rooted conspiracy to take her life”.

In the complaint, TMC MP Derek O’Brien and TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee alleged that the Chief Minister was threatened due to the Election Commission of India’s takeover of the state’s law and order machinery.

“When the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken over the law and order machinery in the state in the name of conducting elections, appropriated the whole governance structure, summarily removed and replaced the Director General of Police without any consultation with the state government, at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the person of the CM and a candidate from Nandigram, West Bengal who is Z plus protectee is threatened,” the complaint letter read.

It further claimed that an “attempt was made on Banerjee’s life” and at the time of the assault, neither the Superintendent nor the local police was present to give her security cover. Only her personal security officers were with her.

O’Brien and Chatterjee further alleged a “nexus between the complaints by BJP against the former DGP”.

“The ECI unilaterally removing the DGP, the SP, and the District Police (who report to the new DGP) being absent at the time of the brazen attack on Mamata Banerjee. The attack is a deep rooted conspiracy to take the life of our Chairperson. We call for an immediate investigation into the same,” it said.

While speaking to the media later, O’Brien condemned certain statements made by leaders of other parties.

“Those responsible for this heinous incident need to be brought to book. It was in such poor taste that within 30 minutes, there were other kinds of statements. We condemn those statements. Talk to doctors and see what happened,” he said.

“On March 9, the Election Commission changed the DGP. On March 10, a BJP MP posted on social media - ‘aap samajh jayenge, 5 pm ke baad kya hone wala hai’ (you will understand, what will happen after 5 pm) and it happened to Mamata Didi at 6 pm. We condemn these incidents and behaviour, and want the truth to prevail,” O’Brien added.