Kailash Vijayvargiya likens Mamata Banerjee to Imran Khan, here's why

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya kicked off a controversy on Sunday by saying there is no difference between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan because they both did not perform yoga on the International Day of Yoga (IDY).

"Even when the whole world celebrated the Yoga Day with enthusiasm, Mamata Banerjee and Pakistan boycotted it. There is no difference between her and the Prime Minister of Pakistan," Vijayvargiya was quoted as saying by ANI.

Earlier, Vijayvargiya accused the West Bengal government of playing with the country's internal security by letting "infiltrators and anti-national elements" in the state.

"There is infiltration in Bengal because of Mamata ji's politics of appeasement. Her only motto is to let the infiltrators in the country, register them in the voter list and use them as a vote bank. But she is not bothered that because of this infiltration, anti-national elements are entering the country," he had said at the party's internal meeting in the state capital.

"Today Pakistan is sending arms and ammunitions to the terrorists and Naxalites through Bangladesh. The infiltrators are not just entering India, they are bringing weapons with them. The Bengal government is not concerned about the country or the state's development. The Chief Minister and the ruling party of Bengal are only concerned about saving their chair," he had said.

The Trinamool Congress, which lost 12 seats it held in the general election, has faced back to back jolts as several legislators and a majority of councillors switched to the BJP after the results.

The BJP increased its tally from two by bagging 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The TMC's tally came down to 22 from the 34 seats it had won in 2014.