In West Bengal, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have taken a backseat as the election fever continues to pick up even after four phases. The attacks, counter-attacks and the bigger and better rallies of the ruling party – Trinamool Congress – and the opposition – Bharatiya Janata Party – are far from over. In a fresh attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday said that after four phases, TMC is “broken to pieces” and also claimed that the ruling party will be “vanquished” after eight phases of elections.

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Taking a jibe at Mamata Banerjee for allegedly “inciting the crowd” in Cooch Behar on April 10, PM Modi at a rally in Asansol said that Trinamool Congress supremo has an “old habit of doing politics with dead bodies and has been trying to politicise the unfortunate death of five people at Sitalkuchi.”

Referring to an audio tape that went viral on Friday, PM Modi said: “Didi, how far will you go for vote bank? The truth is that Didi thought of her political benefit through those deaths. Doing politics on corpses is an old habit of Didi.”

BJP’s IT Cell chief, Amit Malviya on Friday released excerpts of a purported telephonic conversation between Mamata Banerjee and Partha Pratim Ray, the TMC candidate from Sitalkuchi seat. Voices resembling the two leaders are heard on tape discussing deaths of four persons in firing by central forces. Banerjee allegedly asked her district party leader to “take out a rally with the bodies”.

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Reacting to the controversial audio tape, Mamata Banerjee said she “will find out about everyone involved in tapping my phone” and will order a CID probe in the matter.

PM Modi also hit out at the West Bengal chief minister for skipping the meetings between the prime minister and state chief ministers, as COVID cases continue to rise in Bengal and other parts of the country.

The state recorded 4,026 cases in the past 24 hours and 27 people have died. A total of active cases in Bengal stand at 41,047.

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Mamata Banerjee, the prime minister said, has stood as a wall between West Bengal’s people and central welfare schemes, depriving them of benefits, including from the PM-Kisan and Ayushman Bharat schemes.

The eight-phase election for the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly began on March 27 and will end on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 2.