‘Have guts? Face me directly’: Mamata Banerjee dares BJP after I-T raids

KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday dared BJP to “face her directly” after I-T raids at the homes of her chief proposer in Bhowanipore, Miraj Shah, and Rashbehari TMC nominee, Debasish Kumar. She alleged that EC had deployed officers with BJP links to selectively raid and arrest TMC activists. At a rally in Uluberia, she said: “They are threatening everyone. Raids are still happening at our party offices and on our candidates. If you (BJP) have the guts, face me directly... We know who you are. We have all the details. BJP won’t stay in power tomorrow — if you don’t work impartially, people will take democratic revenge.” She urged party workers to create parallel ground structures as a contingency. “Women should be a part of this. Not all observers are bad, but some are part of ‘Big Brother’s’ extended family and are pressuring SDOs to arrest TMC members. My candidate was stopped from campaigning for an entire day. Is that not legally wrong? I-T department should not act as a BJP puppet,” she said.