Banerjee made the claim while addressing election campaigns in Birbhum and Burdwan.
During an election campaign at Birbhum’s Tarapith, Banerjee said, “One of the gaddars (traitors) in the BJP said a bomb will explode. If you have a grudge against me, you can kill me with a bomb. You even tried to kill Abhishek but we came to know in advance. They even conducted a recce of his house, called him on Facetime and sought an appointment.”
She added, “Had Abhishek given him (the alleged perpetrator) time, he would have shot and fled.”
On Monday, Kolkata Police said they have arrested a person from Mumbai for allegedly conducting a recce of Abhishek Banerjee’s residence and offices and was “planning something big” against him.
The police said the accused, identified as Rajaram Rege, was linked to the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. He has been brought to Kolkata and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation.
Continuing her salvo on the BJP, Mamata Banerjee said, “These people want to kill everyone or put them behind bars for speaking against them. If you are confident that you will get votes, then what is the need to terrorise people?”
Banerjee also said, “They used to keep Kesto (Anubrata Mondol) in house arrest every time during the elections but could they stop people from voting? The people of Birbhum will always cast their votes.”
The Chief Minister also reacted to the Calcutta High Court order on the teachers’ recruitment scam and said, “If all teachers are terminated, then who will take classes in the schools?”
She added, “Will you take responsibility if a candidate commits suicide? Don’t worry, I will fight the case as best as I can. Teachers, who worked for eight years, have they not developed social respect? From where will we recruit so many teachers? Will the children come to school (if there are no teachers)? Will the BJP, RSS people go and teach?”
On Monday, Banerjee had criticised the High Court order and had termed it “illegal” during her election campaign rally at Raigunj. “The court verdict cancelling all recruitments is illegal. We stand by those who lost jobs. We will ensure you get justice, and challenge the order in a higher court,” she had said.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled the illegal recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC), ordering them to return their salaries with interest.
The court also ordered fresh recruitment against the posts within 15 days. The bench led by Justice Debangsu Basak observed that the OMR sheets of Group C, Group D, Class IX and X were manipulated in 2016, making all the recruitments illegal.
It added that the names of those who were recruited were included in the panel illegally. “We have no other way but to cancel the whole recruitment panel,” Justice Basak said.