Eight days before the first phase of assembly polls in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for pursuing “appeasement and vote bank politics” which were responsible for infiltration.

Addressing an election rally in the Jangalmahal region of the state, he alleged the ruling TMC never considered Dalits, backwards and Adivasis its own, and these sections were the worst victims of cut money culture and “Tolabaji” (extortion) by the state’s ruling party.

He said on 2 May, the day the votes for assembly elections will be counted, Banerjee’s “khela” (game) will be “shesh” (over) and development will start.

Most of the voters of Jungle Mahal are tribals and the Prime Minister tried to woo them. A separate Ministry of tribal development has been formed during Atalji’s tenure and his government has made a separate budget for the tribal development, he added.

Attacking the Trinamul Congress supremo on the issues of Pulwama blast and Batla House encounter, Modi said that she has been doing vote bank politics since the past ten years. People of Bengal are fed up with her minority appeasement, he added.

Referring to a slew of Central schemes which the TMC government is yet to implement, Modi said,”We believe in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) while TMC believes in Transfer My Commission.”

While admitting that the relief doled out after Cyclone Amphan by her government might have missed out “one or two” beneficiaries, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said BJP leaders were nowhere to be seen during the crisis.

Addressing a rally in West Midnapore, the TMC supremo claimed BJP leaders “arrive here in choppers and planes from outside with bagful of cash to lure voters and loot votes” just ahead of elections.

Asserting the TMC will never allow the NPR exercise in Bengal, she alleged, “The BJP will omit names of voters if they are not found at home during the visit of enumerators. But we would not allow them to update the register here.”

BJP candidate list:

The BJP today announced its candidates for the last four phases of the Bengal elections amidst confusion and agitation over selection of candidates. The list includes Tanushree Dutta, Mukul Roy, Rahul Sinha, Jagannath Sarkar, Sanmoy Bandhopadhyay, Jitendra Tiwari, Agnimitra Paul, Rudranil, Parno Mitra, Sabyasachi Dutta, Raju Banerjee.

The list also included the name of Shikha Mitra Choudhwari, widow of late Congress leader Somen Mitra, who however said she wasn’t even consulted about being fielded as a candidate.