West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee tweeted a picture of her from the hospital bed on Thursday with a warning for the Bharatiya Janata Party. The 66-year-old Chief Minister was injured in an alleged attack while in Nandigram, where she had gone to file her nomination for the coming assembly elections.
“@BJP4Bengal Brace yourselves to see the power of people of BENGAL on Sunday, May 2nd. Get READY!!!” said Abhishek Banerjee, who is also Trinamool Party’s Lok Sabha lawmaker from Diamond Harbour Constituency”
After the incident, the Chief Minister told reporters that she was pushed by four or five men while she was trying to get into her car. Pointing to her leg, she added, “See how it is swelling up”. Asked if it was a planned attack, she said, “Of course it is a conspiracy… there were no policemen around me.”
(Watch: Mamata Banerjee make tea at a roadside stall)
She had plans to stay in Nandigram after filing her nomination papers but was taken to a hospital in Kolkata, 130 km away, after the incident. Mamata Banerjee decided to contest from Nandigram against her former close aide Suvendu Adhikari left her to join the BJP. She had announced that she would fight against Adhikari wherever he contested from.
West Bengal, where elections are being held in eight phases beginning March 27, is witnessing a very violent campaign with Trinamool and BJP at loggerheads. Earlier in Deceember, BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy had been attacked and the party had blamed the ruling Trinamool.