Satgachia, West Bengal: Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday said that no BJP leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has the guts to take his name and use innuendos like "bhaipo" or "bhatija" (nephew) to level charges against him.
The Trinamool Youth Congress chief, who is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claimed he has taken these leaders to the court whenever he was targeted.
"The centre of attack of all parties - BJP, Congress and CPI(M) - is "bhaipo". But they cannot take the name, they cannot take the name of Abhishek Bandopadhyay," he said.
"Even the prime minister does not have the guts to do so, nor do the other leaders of the BJP," the two-time MP from Bengal's Diamond Harbour said while addressing his first public rally ahead of the assembly elections due in April-May next year.
Claiming that the prime minister had said "bhatija ka batti gul hone wala hai" (nephew is set to lose) during a BJP rally in Diamond Harbour before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee said BJP has only one thing to say "bhaipo" or "bhatija".
"I have taken legal action whenever I was targeted," Banerjee, who had sent a defamation notice to PM Modi after his Diamond Harbour rally in May last year, said.
Abhishek Banerjee said after leaving the TMC in 2017, Mukul Roy had made false accusations against him at a public meeting.
"I had taken him to the high court and he was defeated in the legal battle," Banerjee said.
"BJP leaders like Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha, Babul Supriyo, Kailash Vijayvargiya and even Amit Shah and Narendra Modi had on various occasions made accusations taking my name. I had taken legal action against them and given appropriate responses to them in court. That is why they are not taking the name directly and are saying "bhaipo". I request them to take my name if they have the guts," he said.
