Trinamool accuses BJP of removing banners, posters ahead of Shah's Goa visit

Panaji, Oct 14 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress in Goa on Thursday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of stripping down its party posters and hoardings featuring West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the poll-bound state.

"The BJP government and the BJP party in the state are panicky about people's appreciation and love for TMC Goa. The state BJP government has used its machinery to remove flags and banners of the TMC which were put in the state of Goa and they have replaced flags and banners with their own BJP flags and banners, because Amit Shah is visiting Goa today," Trinamool Congress spokesperson Yatish Naik said on Thursday.

The Trinamool Goa's social media feed has been rife with images and videos of the party's posters and hoardings being removed and in some instances replaced by BJP banners and posters of Shah, especially along the route leading from the Dabolim international airport and in areas where Shah is expected to visit during his two-day trip to the coastal state.

"This is not the kind of politics that the people of Goa appreciate. The people of Goa are seeing through all this. The people of Goa have decided to vote against the BJP and they are seeing these tendencies and acts of misuse of government machinery by the BJP," Naik also said, calling it a knee-jerk reaction.

Meanwhile, Shah arrived in Goa on Thursday and is expected to address two public events later in the day.