West Bengal Governor Dhankhar slams Mamata govt, says 'Atmosphere of fear prevails'

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday slammed the Mamata Banerjee led TMC government by saying that an atmosphere of fear prevails in the state. The governor and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have been at loggerheads since the former took the office in July 2019.

While addressing media, the Governor said, "There is such an environment of fear in the state that people cannot even speak about it. I have been vocal about this since I came here. Fear and democracy cannot co-exist."

"There is no place for such fear in a cultured state like West Bengal. it is very unfortunate," Dhankhar added.

READ | 'West Bengal Has Decided For Change': BJP Chief JP Nadda Flags Off Rath Yatra In Tarapith

READ | Ravana Came By Rath & Kidnapped Sita; Now BJP Is Coming: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Situation ahead of assembly elections

The situation in the run-up to West Bengal election gets intense by the day with political mudslinging, violence and claims of defeating each other by heavy margins. West Bengal, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holds fort with 222 seats, will go to polls in April-May 2021. The BJP has exuded confidence that it will cross the 200 seat mark, however, TMC via its poll strategist Prashant Kishore has contended that BJP will not cross double digits. Moreover, the state has seen rigorous campaigning by the saffron party which has gone all guns blazing, dispatching its top brass to the state to hold massive rallies and addresses to weaken the ruling party's efforts to return to power.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party recently witnessed the exit of its heavyweight leader Suvendu Adhikari along with six MLAs, one MP, and 16 other grassroots leaders, who joined BJP and have now been fielded in the saffron party's political campaign. Later, Adhikari's two brothers too joined BJP, while his father was removed from his post in TMC. Also as Sports Minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla has 'retired' from politics, Rajib Banerjee joined BJP along with a few other TMC leaders.

Suvendu Adhikari is most likely to battle it out Mamata Banerjee for Nandigram constituency. While Mamata Banerjee announced to contest the elections from Nandigram which is a stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, the latter has vowed to defeat her with at least 50,000 votes or else he will quit politics. Adhikari has gone to say on record that he has taken the responsibility of defeating Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram regardless of who contests the constituency from BJP.

(With ANI inputs)

READ | 'Gujarat Can Never Rule Bengal': Mamata Asserts 'TMC Will Be Back With Huge Mandate'

READ | Bengal Got 'nirmamta' In Mamata's Rule, People Will Bid Good Bye To TMC Showing 'Ram Card': Modi