Mamata Banerjee more autocratic than CPI(M) leaders: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Kolkata, July 12  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is more autocratic than CPI(M) leaders, former Union minister and BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

Prasad arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday as part of the four-member central fact-finding team to review the incidents of violence and bloodbath before and during the panchayat elections in West Bengal.

The other three members of the central delegation are ex-Commissioner of Mumbai Police Satyapal Singh, and BJP MPs Rajdeep Roy and Rekha Verma.

“We have been sent here by our party President J.P. Nadda to review the situation. We will submit a report to him on our return. I have a question for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who struggled a lot to put an end to the 34-year Left Front rule in the state.

"We were happy that she became the Chief Minister. But what happened to her after that? She had gone steps ahead of the CPI(M) leaders in her expression of autocratic attitude. Why is she following this path of autocratic politics,” Prasad asked.

The BJP MP also launched a scathing attack against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury for their alleged silence over the poll-related violence in West Bengal.

“Workers of both the Congress and CPI(M) are being killed in West Bengal. Yet Rahulji and Sitaramji are silent. Why are they not saying anything? Whatever happened over the panchayat polls in West Bengal is a blot in the name of democracy,” he said.

Taking a dig at State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha, Prasad said, “He was a top bureaucrat in the Trinamool-ruled state government. But democracy has been shamed by the manner in which he conducted the rural civic body polls.

"The central forces were not utilised despite clear instructions from the Calcutta High Court. This proves that the office of the State Election Commission worked as an extended arm of the state secretariat."