Police and officials of the Election Commission of India halted the BJP’s Galsi candidate, Raju Patra, near the railway station on Tuesday as he was on his way to file nomination papers atop a bulldozer.
Patra described the machine as a symbol of “good governance, a Yogi-style model” to counter what he termed “Trinamul Congress’s oppression”. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, addressing a campaign meeting at the iconic Curzon Gate junction, framed it as a message against infiltrators and organised crime.
Maurya said: “Bengal has been pushed back by 40 years due to the successive misrule of the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress. Goons and infiltrators have taken centre stage. The people of Bengal now need Yogi-like governance to curb such audacious elements.”
Trinamul Congress leaders, however, ridiculed the BJP’s move.