Escalating his face-off with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday accused her of trying to protect those involved in chit fund scams and warned neither the perpetrators nor those shielding them will be spared.
The stormy TMC boss quickly returned the fire, calling Modi "master of corruption" and a "shame" for the country.
Addressing his third rally in the state in a week, Modi said Banerjee's ruling TMC had inherited the legacy of "bloodshed, violence and atrocity" from the previous Communist government, and "defamed" the soil of West Bengal.
Attacking Banerjee, who is at the forefront of efforts to stitch together a broad-based anti-BJP coalition of opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Modi said the proposed 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) was 'Maha Milawat' (a grand adulderation) of people who had no ideology or vision for the country.
"Never in the history of our country have we seen a chief minister sitting on a dharna to save the corrupt. The poor want to know why did you sit on dharna to save those who are accused of negligence in probing the chit fund scam.
"This chowkidar (watchman) will not spare them. Whether it is the perpetrators or their protectors, nobody will be allowed to go scot free," Modi declared while addressing a BJP rally in Jalpaiguri district.
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Banerjee reacted quickly and sharply to Modi's fulminations, referring to him as "Mr Maddy".
"The less we talk about this man the better. Mr Maddy is the master of corruption. He is master of arrogance and a shame for the country. I have no words to describe him. His standard is so low that we never expected such a man to be the prime minister. We have respect for the chair but not for this man," she told journalists in Kolkata.
She accused Modi of complicity in the alleged Rafale scam.
"He (Modi) is the most corrupt man in the Rafale deal. He is the master of notebandi (demonetisation). Devil chants mantra. He was never a 'chaiwala' and doesn't know how to prepare tea. From chaiwala he has now become Rafalewala. He speaks a bunch of lies," the West Bengal chief minister said, hitting back at Modi.
Ministers in the Union government and Banerjee are locked in a bitter exchange of words ever since the West Bengal chief minister dramatically launched a dharna to protest the CBI's bid to question Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit fund scam in which lakhs of investors were swindled of their money with the promise of astronomical returns.
Modi alleged that the Trinamool Congress dispensation had taken after its predecessor Left Front government in adopting the culture of bloodshed.
"Those you gave power to in Bengal in the name of 'maa, maati, manush (mother, motherland and man--the TMC's poll slogan) have followed the culture of bloodshed, violence and atrocity of their Communist predecessors," he said, branding the TMC government "Communist part 2".
Recalling Bengal's rich cultural heritage, Modi said, "Today, law and order is in a shambles, industries and businesses are in ruins and young people are migrating to other states for jobs. This government has defamed 'maati' of Bengal and rendered its people 'majboor' (helpless)."