A day ahead of the seventh phase of polls in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress alleged discrimination by the Centre expressing disappointment over allotment of Remdesivir vials.

The party is trying to play up the alleged lower allotment as a case of “Mo-Sha” (acronym for Modi and Shah) hating Bengal and preferring their home State, Gujarat, over others.

According to a document shared by Trinamool MP and party spokesperson, Derek O Brien, West Bengal was allotted 32,000 vials of Remdesivir, nearly one-fifth of Gujarat, that got 165,000 dosages.

Both Bengal and Gujarat are amongst the 10 worst affected States in the brutal second-wave of Covid infections.

Gujarat has received the second highest allotment after Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh saw 161,000 vials being sent to it.

This allotment though is for a 10-day period between April 21 and April 30.

Alleging bias by the Centre, Derek O Brien said, “West Bengal was being penalised for forward planning”.

Leveraging Covid for poll?

Headlining his tweet as “MO-SHA HATE Bengal” the Trinamool spokesperson wrote: “@MamataOfficial asked Centre to not divert oxygen produced in State. We are being penalised for forward planning. Now Centre allots only 32000 vials of #Remdesivir to Bengal, one-fifth of Gujarat (165000). Gujarat to receive 2nd highest doses in country.” Phase-7 of the Assembly polls, the penultimate one, will be held on April 26. Phase-8 will be held on April 29.

The Trinamool Congress party is facing anti-incumbency and grassroots corruption charges, with BJP pitching these as major poll planks.

The party is using the current Covid surge coupled with allegations of bias and step motherly treatment by the BJP-ruled NDA government at the Centre, towards Bengal, as its poll planks, in the last two phases.

Party supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been at loggerheads with the Centre on everything has gone to the extent of alleging that vaccines allotted for the State were being diverted to Gujarat.

On Sunday she said, “No one was interested in listening to the PM’s Mann Ki Baat” and alleged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in order to win elections in Bengal, has pushed the country to a dangerous precipice during a pandemic. “We are facing shortages of vaccines, life saving drugs and oxygen,” she claimed.

The BJP countered saying that the Chief Minister was “politicising” the situation and has been skipping review meetings with the Centre on the some pretext or the other.