Trinamool moves Election Commission against Narendra Modi for ‘horse trading’, Mamata Banerjee demands cancellation of PM’s candidature 

Narendra Modi.

New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday, demanded cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s candidature for “shamelessly indulging in horse trading” during the Lok Sabha election after Modi claimed at a rally in Serampore that “about 40 TMC MLAs are in touch with him and would switch sides once the Bharatiya Janata Party wins the election.”

The development comes on a day the TMC filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India in New Delhi, claiming that the tone of Modi’s speech is “very likely to create an indication of impending horse trading related to election.”

While addressing a rally at Bhadreswar, in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, Banerjee said, “Yesterday, he (Modi) said about 40 MLAs (from TMC) are in touch with him. He is a shameless prime minister. A prime minister is indulging in horse trading. His party is not like our party. His party is full of thieves and functions only on money (power). Our party functions on the sacrifices of our party workers.”

Banerjee also accused Modi of violating the Constitution by making “unconstitutional statements” while holding a constitutional position, and assertively said, “He has no right to remain as the prime minister.”

The ruling party in West Bengal, which has lost several leaders to the saffron fold and is not willing to take any chances, in its complaint letter, signed by TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien, said, “We lodge a strong protest against this mischievous campaign of Sri Modi.”

The TMC lost MPs Soumitra Khan and Anupam Hazra to the BJP. This was followed by MLA Arjun Singh, and Bharati Ghosh, the former IPS officer once known to have been close to Banerjee.

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