Kolkata/New Delhi: Rattled by the explosion of Covid-19 cases amid Assembly elections in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday cancelled all her poll campaign in Kolkata and also curtailed the length of her district rallies to 30 minutes. The BJP too, singed by criticism over the rising cases and non-adherence to Covid protocols at election rallies, announced that it will reduce the crowd strength at each rally of its star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra, to a maximum of 500 for the remaining three poll phases.
The move by the Trinamul Congress supremo and the BJP came two days after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi cancelled his campaign in the state. Ms Banerjee, however, clearly ruled out immediate enforcement of either a lockdown or night curfew by her government in the state. The state witnessed a new record in daily spike in Covid-19 cases on Monday with 8,426 people testing positive and 38 dying in the last 24 hours.
On Monday afternoon Ms…