Congress and CPM took potshots at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday, raking up 'kurta and sweets' references by PM Modi in a recent informal interview with actor Akshay Kumar.
"We never knew what the size of Narendra Modi is. We had raised the question of whether his chest was 56 inches as he had claimed. Mamata, on the other hand, knew it beforehand and had been sending him sweets and 'kurta'.
Bengal's sweets are famous. She never bothered to send it to us though. It must have been a secret which is out in the open now," said actor-turned-Congress leader Raj Babbar at a news conference at the Congress headquarters here on Friday
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury too on Friday said the secret pact between Mamata and Modi which they had talked about earlier is now clear. "It is a normal tradition to exchange gifts and sweets among people during festivals. But why do we need to keep it as a hush-hush affair? And why of all times Modi had to reveal it now? Did he ever talk about it earlier? This proves the 'dosti' and 'kusti' relationship we always talked about which existed between Didi and Modi.
Mamata, on the other hand, had commented about it on Thursday saying that it was a courtesy which she followed but unlike Modi, she never did politics out of it. On Friday again, addressing a rally in Asansol, she said she would send Modi sweets made of mud and pebbles. "He is making multiple visits to Bengal ahead of the polls seeking votes but Bengal will give him zero seats. We will give him sweets made of mud with pebbles like we add dry fruits," Mamata said.
In the interview aired on April 23, PM Modi had told Ahskay: "Even today, Mamata Didi herself selects one or two kurtas for me in a year. Even Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina sends sweets to me three to four times a year from Dhaka. When Mamata Didi got to know this, then she also started sending sweets for me one or two times a year."
