KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday told voters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims about 40 local lawmakers being in touch with the ruling party at the Centre amounted to taking ‘unconstitutional’ means to buy political support. Livid over the Prime Minister's claim, Ms. Banerjee, in a strong takedown, said the remark was "unconstitutional" and "illegal".  

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“In Bengal, he talks about buying 40 MLAs. I would request him to save his chair first and then try and buy MLAs in Bengal,” Banerjee told voters at a rally in Hooghly’s Bhadreswar on Tuesday. “In TMC, people are dedicated to working for people. They cannot be bought so easily. Bengal will never allow this party that only instigates communal violence. The government in Bengal will not fall so easily.” 

"Aren't you ashamed? You claim yourself to be a protector of the constitution? In spite of being in a constitutional position, you are violating it. You don't have any right to be the Prime Minister, ex-prime minister," she said.

She accused the Prime Minister of “violating the constitution by trying to buy people.” TMC has written to the Election Commission of India alleging the violation of the model code of conduct by the Prime Minister during his Monday speech at a rally in West Bengal’s Serampore.  The Prime Minister had made the stunning claim. "Didi, on 23 May, the day of results, the lotus will bloom everywhere and your MLAs will leave you and run. Even today, Didi, 40 of your MLAs are in contact with me," he had said.

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