Hurt, Mamata Banerjee says she’ll be back soon

She lay on a hospital bed her left foot in plaster cast strung to an iron stand but an ldquoimmobilisedrdquo Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday had West Bengal in ferment as supporters of her ruling TMC and rival BJP clashed over the alleged attack on her at Nandigram the day beforeShe urged her supporters to maintain peace and not do anything that would cause problems to the public In a video message from the hospital bed she said she would be back for the poll campaign in a few days and use a wheelchair if neededldquoI would appeal to my party cadres supporters activist and common people to maintain peace and calm It is true that I was badly hurt last night and felt severe pain in the chest and head The doctors are looking after merdquo she said Banerjeersquos appeal to her supporters came amid widespread protests by TMC workers across the state TMC activists blocked roads burnt tyres and raised slogans blaming the BJP for the lsquoattackrsquoCondition stableDoctors treating Banerjee said her health condition is stable but she has severe pain in her injured left leg and has a low sodium concentration in blood She will be under strict observation for the time being they said ldquoThe chief minister has severe bony injuries in her left ankle and foot besides injuries in right shoulder forearm and neck She is stable now but is having severe pain in the injured legrdquo a senior doctor at the staterun SSKM Hospital saidlsquoConspiracy to kill herrsquoThe TMC has slammed the Election Commission for failing to provide proper security to Banerjee Claiming that the attack was a lsquodeeprooted conspiracy to take the life of TMC supremorsquo the TMC leaders said anti social elements have been mobilised from the neighbouring states by the BJP in Nandigram to unleash violenceEC taking orders from BJPAccusing the EC of acting lsquoas per ordersrsquo of the BJP leaders the TMC delegation after meeting the EC officials alleged that the EC lsquodid nothing despite there being reports of a possible attack on Banerjeersquo A delegation of the BJP also met EC officials here and demanded a thorough probe into the incident in which Banerjee got injured in Nandigram the previous dayThe EC had on Tuesday ordered removal of Virendra as directorgeneral of police of the pollbound state with immediate effect and appointed P Nirajnayan in his place Claiming that several comments by senior BJP leaders had dropped enough hints that Banerjee might be attacked TMC secretarygeneral Partha Chatterjee said ldquodespite having those inputs the CM was left with no proper securityrdquo ldquoThe EC is acting as per orders of the BJP leaders The BJP is asking the EC to remove an official and they are removing himrdquoBJP demands CBI inquiryThe BJP demanded a CBI inquiry over the alleged assault to ascertain if the incident was ldquostagedrdquo The Bengal BJP said the party will not indulge in any politics over her injuries and called for a comprehensive probe into the incident as she had alleged conspiracy behind it Meanwhile a case has been registered at Nandigram over the alleged attack under IPC Sections 341 punishment for wrongful restraint and 323 punishment for voluntarily causing hurt a senior police officer of the Purba Medinipur district saidTMC postpones manifesto releaseThe Trinamool Congress on Wednesday decided to postpone the release of its manifesto for the upcoming elections in West Bengal following the alleged attack on CM Mamata Banerjee party leaders said on ThursdayBanerjee the partyrsquos chairperson was scheduled to release the manifesto in the afternoon at her residence in KalighatldquoThe manifesto release has been postponed for the time being It will be released after Mamata Banerjee gets well and is back home Although our manifesto is ready there is no question of releasing it without herrdquo a senior TMC leader said West Bengal will be voting in eight phases beginning March 27 The votes will be counted on May 2This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever