‘Divided West Bengal’: Mamata claims Center is trying to ‘divide’ state through delimitation

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the Center of carrying out a delimitation exercise to bifurcate the state into three parts.Addressing a poll rally at Chatna and Onda in West Bengal’s Bankura district, Mamata said parts of West Bengal may be merged with Bihar and Odisha, which would lead to hardship for Bengalis living in these areas.

“The BJP is planning to bring a delimitation bill to bifurcate West Bengal into three parts. It may merge parts of West Bengal with Bihar or Odisha and torture the Bengalis there,” Mamata said.Mamata also claimed that the BJP had reached a deal worth Rs 1,000 crore to oust the Trinamool Congress party from power in the state.She made an apparent reference to a widely circulated video of Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir, in which Kabir allegedly said that he was in close touch with BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, to oust Mamata from power and that he had received an advance of Rs 200 crore in a deal aimed at splitting minority votes to defeat the TMC.“They (BJP) have reached a deal worth Rs 1,000 crore to oust the TMC from power in West Bengal,” the party supremo said.She also alleged that central forces deployed in the state for the upcoming polls were “disrespecting” women in the name of conducting searches.The chief minister also claimed that despite the availability of the venue, she was denied permission to hold the rally, while permission was quickly granted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting.She also accused the BJP of bribing voters ahead of the elections and called the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls “the country’s biggest scam” in recent years.“SIR is the biggest scam in the country in recent years. Everyone in the world knows that your government will fall in 2026. Then we will repeal all the anti-people laws introduced by your government,” she added.“BJP bribes voters before the elections. But they forget their promises soon after the polls are over. This was evident in the Bihar elections,” Mamata said.The TMC president further claimed that the BJP will try to manipulate the voting process to win the election and urged the people to remain vigilant and keep an eye on the voting machines.“Be wary of voting machines. The BJP plans slow voting and slow counting of votes. Frustrate all their plans,” Banerjee said.She also alleged that the BJP planned to serve “medicated tea and sweets” to people to “rob votes”.“They plan to serve you drugged tea and sweets that will make you fall asleep and they’re going to rob you of your vote…be cautious,” she said.She also questioned the BJP’s promise to fill government vacancies in the polls, asking: “What happened to his (Modi’s) promise of providing two crore jobs to the youth?”