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Updated: Mar 30, 2020 21:13 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of politicising the distribution of relief material to the needy during the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, and union minister Babul Supriyo lashed out at chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Sunday and Monday for using social media platforms for highlighting herself and her party in an hour of national crisis. The party’s national secretary Rahul Sinha started distributing relief material in Kolkata on Monday.

“The distribution of relief in all parts of West Bengal has been entrusted to Ministers/ MLAs/corporators of the ruling TMC. It has become a political occasion and the lockdown is being used as a campaign platform for Mamata Didi. This approach will undermine the national fight against the pandemic,” Dasgupta wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

On Monday, Mamata Banerjee declared during a meeting with bureaucrats, doctors, nursing staff and health workers at the state secretariat that people involved in work related to Covid-19 will have an insurance coverage of Rs 10 lakh, instead of the Rs 5 lakh that she had announced earlier.

Following her announcement, Dasgupta tweeted, “West Bengal govt has increased insurance payout to doctors and health workers from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. In other states they are covered up to Rs 50 lakh by the Centre. For political reasons @MamataOfficial has refused to join Ayushman Bharat scheme. Bengal has lost out. @SuPriyoBabul”

Sharing Dasgupta’s tweet, Supriyo, junior minister for environment, forests and climate change at the Centre, wrote on Twitter, “For Didi @MamataOfficial it is all about OneUp(Wo)Manship. It’s She vs the Rest of the World. She has done good work in leading from the front and her media has covered it well but God Help the people in Rural Areas, the ones without Ration Cards, Sr citizens- left helpless in most places.”

Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee on Monday also asked district administrations to ensure no one missed out on relief for lack of identity documents.

Supriyo also lashed out at her for airing her meeting at the state secretariat live on social media. “What kind of mentality is this? Administrative meetings in districts, even the meeting at the state secretariat at this hour, are being held in front of the media’s cameras! You are so greedy for publicity! Shame @MamataOfficial shame! You have left no scope for respecting you! #Tmchhi @BJP4Bengal @swapan55 @ANI,” he wrote in Bengali in a tweet.

In Kolkata, while distributing food grains to slum dwellers, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, “Mamata Banerjee is using the relief work for her own publicity.”

BJP’s criticism of the Bengal chief minister came in the wake of the chief minister earning praises from many corners for her leading role in dealing with the situation over the coronavirus.

She was seen visiting hospitals, night shelters for the homeless, distributing food among rickshaw-pullers, holding one meeting after another and advising people using the mainstream media and the social media on how to maintain social distancing. Her party’s MLAs and municipal corporators have been distributing relief material to the poor and the needy at their doorstep.

“Mamata Banerjee has earned a lot of praise over the past few days for her leading role in this time of crisis. It seems this has frustrated these BJP leaders who are trying to find fault. This is unwelcome,” said political analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay, a professor of political science at Bangabasi College in Kolkata.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Snehasis Chakraborty said, “Mamata Banerjee has set an example of giving leadership in the hour of national crisis. BJP is feeling jealous and frustrated and stooping too low.”

The statewide municipal elections are due in May-June this year and the Assembly elections are scheduled in 2021. In 2019, BJP emerged as TMC’s principal challenger, winning 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats, against 22 won by TMC.