Mamata's TMC calls Modi a butcher of Gujarat

Kolkata/Serampore: Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress attacked BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi calling him as ‘the butcher of Gujarat’ who could not ‘take care of his own wife’ in a series of tweets on Sunday evening.

"Butcher of Gujarat air-dropped into Bengal. He has no answers to Bengal's development model. So, he is making personal attacks," TMC leader Derek O'Brien. Modi, earlier in the day, had attacked Banerjee at a rally in Serampore.

"The Butcher of Gujarat could not take care of his own wife. How will he take care of this great nation?," he tweeted.

Firing a salvo at Banerjee for the second time in the past three weeks after adopting a soft approach two months ago, Modi raked up the Saradha scam and said he did not expect this from the Trinamool supremo.

"Saradha is the other name of Saraswati, she is worshipped everywhere, and this Saradha turned into a chit fund? Mamataji, we did not expect this from you," he said.

"Personally, I have always respected you. But what have you done, you have broken the dreams of the people of Bengal," Modi had said.

Sarcastically lauding Banerjee's talent for painting, he said, "your paintings used to be sold for Rs four lakh, 8 lakh or 15 lakh, but what is the reason that one of your paintings sold for Rs 1.80 crore. I respect art. "But who was the person who bought the painting for Rs 1.80 crore," he said.

Reacting to Modi's allegation in connection with the paintings, O'Brien tweeted, "Paintings were sold not for personal gain. Money used for good causes as well as to fund elections. Hence electoral reforms a priority."

In another tweet, he said, "Butcher of Gujarat says Didi pocketed Rs 1.8 crore by selling one painting of hers. He should prove it or face defamation."

O’Brien later said Modi was making personal and unsubstantiated attacks at TMC.