Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee today demanded the arrest of Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education minister for the NEET UG scam. “If the former state Education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the agencies for his alleged involvement in the SSC scam, then why should Dharmendra Pradhan not be arrested for his alleged involvement in the NEET UG scam. Law should not be discriminatory. Pradhan should be immediately arrested for the scam,” Mr Banerjee said.

Mr Banerjee also issued a warning to those Trinamul Congress party leaders who did not work seriously in the recently concluded general election and promised action against them. Addressing the mammoth rally to observe the martyrs’ day at Eslpanade, Mr Banerjee told the party workers who had come from the district: “When you go back home tell the Trinamul town president, anchal pradhan or panchayat pradhan that those who did not work seriously would be dealt with seriously.” “I did not take part in any political activity for the past one and a half month and during this period I took stock of the situation. There are leaders who had worked hard to ensure their win in the civic election or Panchayat election, but did not work seriously in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.

I have identified them and you will get the result within the next three months.” Mr Banerjee said the party leaders should never be complacent. “We will have to get more seats in the 2026 Assembly election and we should pull up our socks now. Everyone will have to pump in maximum effort. Those who have joined the party recently should know the history of the party and the importance of the Martyrs’ Day. At the same time the old leaders should work with the young ones to reach the maximum number of people possible.” Coming down heavily on the BJP he said: “The BJP had raised the slogan aab ki bar charsho par and they were happy to get 240 seats in the Lok Sabha election. Similarly, before 2021 the leaders had said ab ki bar do so par in Bengal and the state BJP got 77 seats. Amit Shah and Siddharth Nath Singh had raised a slogan from a

meeting at Esplanade, “Bhag Mamata Bhag” and people of Bengal rejected the saffron party. In Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha taken together , Trinamul has 42 seats,” he said. Mr Banerjee said the BJP had prepared a false narrative in Sandeshkhali two months before the election to woo the people. “They had maligned Bengal before the entire nation by engineering false narratives. People rejected them and the Trinamul Congress candidate won the seat by 3.50 lakh votes.” He thanked the people of Diamond Harbour by helping him to win the seat by 7.10 lakh votes. “ Not ED or CBI but the people say the final word. The BJP did not spare my old parents, my wife and even the kids.

I will never bow before them and will never do so in future,” he said. He alleged that the BJP was always using religion to woo the people. “ It is the most communal party that let loose one group against another for its benefit. Our religion is to serve the masses. We practice religion privately and when we step outside our homes, our only religion is to serve the people.” He alleged that the BJP had spent 40 crore during the seven phase Lok Sbha election to entertain people of the villages with liquor. “ No sensible or sober person can support the BJP,” he said and urged his party workers to fight against all communal forces