Mamata accuses Stalin, Congress, EC of ‘tacit understanding’ with BJP

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday (April 6) alleged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, the Congress party, and the Election Commission of India (EC) share a “tacit understanding” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing an election rally in Nakashipara (also reported as Bethuadahari), Nadia district, Mamata claimed that a large number of senior IAS and IPS officers from the West Bengal cadre have been transferred to Tamil Nadu as poll observers, severely hampering development and administrative work in her state during the crucial assembly election period.

“You (BJP) must be having some tacit understanding with the Congress and Stalin,” she said. “All officers from Bengal are being sent to Tamil Nadu. What is the secret understanding between the DMK, Congress, and the Election Commission? The Commission seems to have special intimacy with the southern state.”

‘500 officers transferred in WB’

Mamata further alleged that while five states are simultaneously going to the polls, the EC has transferred around 500 officers in West Bengal, far more than in other poll-bound states. She claimed the Commission is placing officers favourable to the BJP in key positions in Bengal to allow “free movement” of BJP workers.

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Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin have long been seen as natural allies in the broader fight against the BJP. Both lead powerful regional parties, the TMC and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and have frequently spoken in one voice on issues of federalism, central overreach, and the role of central agencies.

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In 2022, Mamata made a high-profile visit to Chennai to meet Stalin, describing it as a meeting focused on development and cooperation between the two states.

DMK slams Mamata's remarks

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai today rejected the allegations, asserting that the real political contest is between the DMK and the RSS-BJP. He said no party has opposed the BJP as consistently as the DMK under MK Stalin, stressing that “there is no compromise.” Calling the DMK the BJP’s primary ideological opponent, he added that Stalin remains one of the strongest critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

DMK leader TKS Elangovan told The Federal, “The Election Commission is transferring officers favourable to Mamata to various states. Some of them have been temporarily posted to Tamil Nadu. Did the DMK ask the Election Commission to appoint those officers here? What can the DMK do when the Election Commission itself has made these appointments? I see this as Mamata expressing her anger at the BJP.”

EC’s neutrality questioned

Analysts say Monday’s outburst reflects immediate electoral compulsions in West Bengal. With polls imminent, Mamata appears frustrated by what she sees as disproportionate administrative disruption in her state compared to Tamil Nadu, where Stalin’s DMK is also contesting the elections on April 23.

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This is not the first time Mamata has publicly questioned the EC’s decisions. In the run-up to the polls, she has also raised concerns over large-scale transfers of police station officers and deployment of central forces.