Kolkata:

As the country’s general election begins, northern Bangladesh will be the first to vote on April 19. But weeks before the election, a massive storm hit the area, destroying homes and disrupting the lives of thousands. Locals say there have been delays in rescue efforts – and now that the Code of Conduct has been published, the responsibility falls on local authorities.

The political war between the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress has now begun.

The Trinamool argued that if the BJP had not withheld funds for building houses, the losses would have been limited. “If people get funds under Awas Yojana at the right time, maybe many of them will get shelter in pucca houses,” Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

“The BJP-led central government has deliberately not provided funds under the 100-day Employment Guarantee Scheme and Awas Yojana and this is the result,” he added.

The BJP claimed that the Trinamool was corrupt and relief supplies would be looted. Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said: “If there is a storm, the Trinamool will get excited. Whatever happens, they will loot. They want floods, storms and earthquakes so that they can Profit from it.”

“The government has a responsibility to ensure that those affected are helped, empowered and compensated so that they can return to normalcy,” he added.

The trigger for the political fight was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s immediate visit to the region. The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari also rushed to the area and attacked her, claiming that she was only there to take photos.

“The number of photos taken is increasing. The rescue work is not going well. What work is left to do in the middle of the night? Are you rushing to the hospital to see the families of the victims? This may have already happened in the morning,” he said.

Trinamool’s Abhishek Banerjee hit back, asking what was stopping the BJP from arriving early.

“If he claims that the chief minister traveled from Kolkata in the middle of the night to turn the incident into a media spectacle, what stops the prime minister from following the same principle?” he said.

“BJP should be the last one to talk about publicity and photo-ops. Their entire politics has been around PR and photo-ops,” he added.

Coochbehar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri will go to polls in the first phase of elections on April 19 and while the BJP is trying to consolidate its base here, the Trinamool is trying to regain lost ground.

Last time, the BJP won all the seats in North Bengal, taking it to 18 seats. To reach the target of 25 seats in this election, the BJP must maintain control of the region.