BJP hits out at TMC MLA for ‘each vote cost ₹60,000’ remark

Raiganj Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Krishna Kalyani received backlash from the BJP on Tuesday for his recent remarks at a public meeting, claiming that “each vote costs ₹60,000”.

Earlier in the day, the BJP had shared the video on social media two days after the Raiganj MLA was seen making the remark.

“Do you know how much each of your votes costs? Minimum ₹60,000. Every month, each of you gets ₹1,000 from the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme which amounts to ₹60,000 in five years. So, do not vote for someone if they offer anything less than ₹60,000,” Mr. Kalyani said while addressing a public meeting in Raiganj on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ms. Banerjee, addressing a gathering in Cooch Behar on Tuesday, said, “I do not buy votes with money like the BJP, I buy votes with love.”

Mr. Kalyani was a BJP MLA during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly poll. However, he switched to TMC three days before the bypolls in the State in October 2021.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, criticised Mr. Kalyani’s speech after sharing the video on his social media handle. The LoP termed the TMC MLA a “turncoat”, citing the latter’s history of switching political parties.

“Today, while trying to jab the BJP from the meeting in Cooch Behar, she [Mamata Banerjee] said, ‘I don’t buy votes as the BJP does’. But, her own party’s turncoat MLA Krishna Kalyani has dismissed this claim of hers,” Mr. Adhikari wrote.

Criticising the differences in the comments the TMC leaders made, Mr. Adhikari said that the people of West Bengal will reject the TMC’s plan to “buy votes in exchange for government grants”.

Taking a dig at the ruling TMC, he said the money for such schemes launched by Ms. Banerjee came from taxpayers’ money, and not from the pockets of the politicians.