PATNA: Union Minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over reports of fresh violence in the state, saying that her days are numbered.
Singh, the veteran Bihar BJP politician, alleged that the Trinamool Congress supremo was perpetrating the politics of violence in the state out of frustration after the BJP won many seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Accusing the TMC of being responsible for the fresh killings of the BJP workers in Bengal, Singh said, "She (Banerjee) has begun to take recourse to the same tactics as the Left Front which preceded her in power and which she had vowed to end."
"In election after election, from the local bodies to the Lok Sabha, she has been facing people's wrath. Democracy has no place for violence, but she is using it out of frustration. Her countdown has begun," Singh told news agency ANI.
The remarks from Singh came a day after four BJP workers were allegedly killed during clashes with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists in the 24 North Parganas district on Saturday.
Giriraj had earlier claimed that the TMC supremo has been trying to suppress her political opponents with such a ruthlessness that is comparable only to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
In fresh tension in West Bengal, the state's police on Sunday blocked a procession being led by the state BJP leaders from advancing towards Kolkata.
Top state BJP leaders were leading a hearse of deceased party workers on the Malancha Road, which connects Basirhat to Kolkata when they were stopped by the police.
The BJP delegation included party MP Dilip Ghosh, Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee, Rahul Sinha and many others.
The cops also stopped the vehicles of the BJP leaders, who wanted to take the dead body of the deceased party workers to the party headquarters in Kolkata to pay their last respects.
The BJP leaders were told that a procession with dead bodies cannot be allowed to enter Kolkata as it may lead to a law and order situation.
However, after much persuasion, the BJP leaders agreed to take the dead bodies of the two deceased party workers to Sandeshkhali in Basirhat. The last rites of the deceased BJP workers will be performed tonight at Sandeshkhali.
BJP will also observe a 12-hour bandh in Basirhat on Monday.
The development comes at a time when the central government expressed ''deep concerns'' over reports of fresh violence in the state of West Bengal in which at least 8 people were killed in 24 Noth Parganas district on Saturday.
The Centre also issued an advisory to the Mamata Banerjee government in this connection.
