India, April 17 -- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday mounted a sharp attack on the ruling TMC during a series of rallies in West Bengal, alleging that the State had been pushed into an "identity crisis" over the past 15 years because of corruption, extortion and the rise of what he described as "mafia rule".

Addressing election meetings in Birbhum's Rampurhat and Bolpur and Paschim Bardhaman's Barabani in support of BJP candidates, the BJP leader claimed that Bengal, once regarded as the country's cultural Capital, had been turned into a "crime Capital" under the TMC Government.

"The TMC has turned Bengal from the cultural Capital of India into a crime Capital. A BJP Government will once again make Bengal the cult...