“Will not be able to step inside Parliament again”: TMC’s Coochbehar candidate rails against sitting MP Nisith Pramanik

Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, the TMC candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Coochbehar, claimed on Saturday that his electoral rival and sitting MP Nisith Pramanik would fail in his bid to seek a fresh term in the Lower House as he did nothing for the district over the last five years.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the TMC candidate said, “Nisith Pramanik will not be able to step inside the Parliament again, as he did nothing for Coochbehar in the last five years. After winning the elections here (in 2019), he kept himself busy in Delhi.”
Also taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is bidding to return for a third, straight term in office, the TMC leader said there was no ‘warranty’ to the former’s guarantees.
“The PM failed to keep the promises he made ahead of the 2014 general elections. His solemn guarantees to the people in the run-up to the 2019 elections, too, remained unfulfilled. There is no warranty to PM Modi’s guarantees. He only lies to the people. So, this time, the people have resolved to vote for the TMC and stand with those who fight for the truth. Neither PM Modi nor the BJP did anything for the people of Coochbehar,” the TMC candidate told ANI.
Amid fears of violence during and after the Lok Sabha elections, Basunia said there was no possibility of post-poll violence as no one would be threatened or targeted after polling Coochbehar.
“The people are with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The development work that we have carried out in the district and elsewhere in the state from 2011 (when the TMC came to power in Bengal for the first time) to the present day, will stand us in good stead going into the general elections. The work that we have accomplished will lay the foundation for our guarantees to the people going forward. To that sense, our guarantees are different from PM Modi’s,” he claimed.
Invoking the ethnic clashes in Manipur and the viral video purportedly showing some women being paraded in the nude, the TMC candidate said, “Till today, PM Modi hasn’t found time to visit Manipur, where a woman was stripped and paraded naked, and stand with the people there. For them to talk about Sandeshkhali is laughable.”
Hundreds of women came on the streets of Sandeshkhali, accusing jailed former TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his henchmen of perpetrating grave excesses on them while also gobbling up their land.
He said the ruling TMC didn’t just build a university, a medical college, and an engineering college in the district but also set up bridges on the rivers of Coochbehar.
“The TMC not only implemented the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme for women here but also ensured that the benefits of other welfare schemes reached people of all age groups,” he added.
Claiming further that the ED and CBI were being misused by the BJP-led NDA at the Centre to hound and harass Opposition leaders, the TMC candidate added, “Himanta Biswa Sarma was involved in the Saradha scam. However, he got a clean chit as soon as he joined the BJP.”
Polling for the Lok Sabha in Bengal will take place across all 7 phases, starting April 19. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.
However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC’s 22. The Congress’s tally dropped to just 2 seats, while the Left scored a blank.