Mamata Banerjee on Saturday put to rest all speculations on whether she would be having any post poll alliance with the BJP as she launched a scathing attack on Narendra Modi's campaign style. Even AAP wasn't spared for their fund raising through innovative ways, and demanded that there should be state funding of polls as a solution to end moneybag politics.
''My first priority is electoral reform. How are political parties managing to attract thousand of crores to their party funds, from within and outside the country? Even a party that is not even six months old has several hundred crores. With this fund they are spending freely in buying votes and even the media. To stop this we urgently need electoral reforms and state funding. If the United States, the UK, France and even Denmark can do it, why can't we?" Mamata asked while releasing Trinamool's election manifesto.
"Why do we need to approach people for money to fight elections?'' She asked saying some are raising money in the name of 'cha' or selling seats for over a lakh of rupees for attending public meeting alluding, in both cases, to Narendra Modi's 'chai pe charcha' and a public rally of him in Kolkata where city industrialists donated money to be on the front seat.
"From Cha to Chinese, there's a price for every food and drink that are on offer in such meetings. This is ridiculous," she said taking a dig at Aam Aadmi Party's dinner parties to raise funds.
"We want e-governance, e-procurement in defence, e-tendering and e-system," Mamata said in her inimitable style.
''We will also raise subsidy on fertiliser as farmers are now finding it difficult to buy them as subsidy is being cut.
Peeved at rising fertiliser prices, one farmer in Bengal had raised his voice at a public meeting of Mamata, who promptly branded him a Maoist.
"We don't believe in splitting a state for the sake of just one seat," she said in a reference to some BJP leaders reportedly supporting the demand for formation of Gorkhaland in a bid to win the Darjeeling seat where the party's candidate, SS Ahluwalia, has joined hands with Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung.
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