BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday highlighted a recent remark by Raiganj Trinamool MLA Krishna Kalyani to slam chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s speech at Cooch Behar where she said she did not buy votes like the BJP did.

Adhikari posted two video clips on his X — one of Mamata's speech in Cooch Behar and another of Kalyani — with a sharp remark: “Double standards are the hallmark of Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress. While criticizing the BJP in Cooch Behar, she claimed that ‘I don’t buy votes like the BJP.’ But her own party’s turncoat MLA, Krishna Kalyani, has valued women’s votes at a minimum of ₹1,000 per month. Over five years, that amounts to ₹60,000.”

On December 6, Kalyani visited ward 25 in Raiganj to inquire about SIR matters. At Devenagar-Devpuri locality, he reportedly told women that he was primarily a businessman who understood profit and loss well, and added they were getting ₹1,000 a month under Lakshmir Bhandar, equalling ₹12,000 per year and ₹60,000 for five years.

The MLA asked them not to vote for someone offering less than that.

On Tuesday, at a public meeting in Cooch Behar, Mamata said: “I don’t buy votes like the BJP. I don’t buy votes with money, I earn them with love.”

Kalyani, currently away in Dubai on a personal trip, said over the phone: "My words have been distorted. He (Adhikari) needs treatment, and once he recovers, I will respond. He is a turncoat. I resigned from the BJP, joined Trinamool, and then won on the party’s symbol."

BJP spokesperson in North Dinajpur, Keshabananda Pal, said the state government runs welfare projects using taxpayer money, not personal wealth.

“How can an MLA calculate the annual value of a vote?” he said.

Kanaialal Agarwal, Trinamool district president, said the MLA had clarified and they had nothing more to add to it.