Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that her party, the Trinamul Congress, did not have the money to afford something like the home minister Amit Shah’s virtual rally.
Mamata was replying to journalists on whether there were any virtual plans for her party’s mega annual rally on July 21, to which she brought up the BJP’s virtual rallies with Shah.
“I am a member of a political party (Trinamul Congress), which is a tight-knit family. Without discussing within the party, I cannot tell you (our plans) right now,” Mamata replied to questions on the “Martyrs’ Day” event at Esplanade in Calcutta going virtual in the “new normal”.
“What BJP can afford, we cannot. It is very expensive,” Mamata said. “But ours is only one (major) programme, that we organise every July 21…But let me see the situation. We will then decide.”
She went on to refer to Shah’s virtual rally for Bihar, in which he launched the campaign for the Assembly polls there later this year. “Yesterday, you have seen. I have seen on social media, I don’t know if it’s correct or not. More than 70,000 LEDs worked. Big, big LEDs...,” she said.
In a similar virtual rally on Tuesday, Shah is expected to launch his party’s campaign for the Bengal Assembly elections next year, which he has been working hard for years to win.
Mamata clarified that she was not talking about videoconferences.
“They (the BJP) are getting one lakh, two lakh people… spending crores and crores of rupees. We are videoconferencing with 20 leaders. There is a great deal of difference between the two,” she said.
“Videoconferencing, I conduct with the administration and the party frequently,” she added.
The Trinamul chief then apparently questioned Shah’s absence.
“The last three months those giving bhashan (lectures) from home over virtual rallies… how many times have they ventured out?” she asked.
For the past few months, Shah was conspicuous by absence from the frontline, leading to questions such “where is Amit Shah?”
The speculation turned so feverish that Shah last month had to issue a clarification saying he was “absolutely healthy” to counter “rumours” about his health. Since then, Shah’s visibility has started increasing.
