 "'Please excuse me': Mamata Banerjee opts out of Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony over BJP's 'false' claims of 'political murders' in West Bengal")
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday tweeted to convey her anguish over “false” reports of ‘political murders’ of BJP workers in the state and asked Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi to excuse her from attending his swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on Thursday, for which she had accepted the invitation on Tuesday. Mamata said that BJP’s claim of 54 party workers being killed in “political violence” is untrue as she attributed the deaths to personal enmity, family quarrels, and other disputes. Rubbishing the reports, the chief minister said that there are no such records with her government, and therefore, due to the saffron party’s politics over the issue, she is compelled to pull-out of the event. “The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party,” Mamata wrote, adding that the BJP is using it as an opportunity to score “political points”.
The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party pic.twitter.com/Mznq0xN11Q
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 29, 2019
On Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee had said she will attend the ceremony as “ constitutional courtesy ” after having spoken to “a couple of other chief ministers”. “There are certain ceremonial programmes under the Constitution. We try to attend such programmes when we get an invitation for swearing-in programmes of the president and the prime minister,” she was quoted as saying. Mamata’s decision comes amid reports of a major cabinet reshuffle taking place in the TMC-led government on Tuesday. Also, earlier on Tuesday, West Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu along with two Bengal legislators and 50 TMC councillors had joined the BJP , in a big jolt to the state government after the Lok Sabha election result. In the general election, BJP had sprung a surprise in Bengal by winning 18 seats as opposed to 22 won by TMC, which has helped the former in making inroads in the Left-leaning state. Follow LIVE updates on the latest developments post the Lok Sabha election result 2019
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