Will resign if proven I dialled Amit Shah over TMC’s national status: Mamata Banerjee
In an all-out attack on her lieutenant-turned-nemesis, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she would step down if it was proved that she had called Union Home Minister Amit Shah after her party, the Trinamool Congress, lost its national party status.
Without naming him, Banerjee accused Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of lying about her calling the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded proof. Her party, Trinamool Congress, has also said it will take legal action.
At a rally in Singur, Suvendu Adhikari had claimed that Mamata Banerjee had called Union Home Minister Amit Shah several times requesting her party’s national status be retained.
Reacting to the media reports on Adhikari’s comments, Mamata Banerjee called out the media for not cross-checking the claim with her before reporting. Addressing a news conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat, a livid Mamata Banerjee said, “One person, grotesque, is addressing a public meeting and saying that after the Trinamool Congress lost its national party status, I called their tallest leader, Shah ji, four times on the phone. You have aired this news the entire day yesterday. It has been reported in the newspapers as well. Have you cross-checked this information with me that whether I have called him or not?”
“I want to repeat that I have demanded his resignation. For engaging in a conspiracy to break the Constitution. He denigrates his constitutional position, and he intends to break the federal structure by using brute force to break governments. His words are not befitting the post of the Home Minister and not according to the constitution,” she said.
“The person who says I have called him four times should atone by crawling with his nose on the ground because you have reported it. If I have done this, I am giving you my word, I will resign from the position of Chief Minister. And if they have lied and used you to propagate their lies, then admit that those who are behind it and those who have done it, will you atone for this by crawling with your nose on the ground? Will you resign? Or will your leaders resign?” Banerjee added.