Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday castigated governor C.V. Ananda Bose over his alleged misconduct with a contractual woman employee at the Raj Bhavan, saying her “heart bled” after watching the woman’s video statement.

“What did you do? What was your behaviour with the girl who used to work at the Raj Bhavan?” Mamata said at an election rally in Raina, East Burdwan.

“Though I had (previously) heard about a thousand such complaints, I never uttered a single word. But when I saw the video in which the girl was crying, my heart bled.... The governor molested her twice.”

Mamata seemed to be using the woman’s allegation to try and turn the tables on the BJP, which has been attacking her government in poll season over the sexual abuse charges against local Trinamool leaders in Sandeshkhali.

Mamata particularly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spent Thursday night at the Raj Bhavan after arriving in Calcutta around 9pm, for his silence on the woman’s allegations against the governor. “The girl has said she would not go back to work at the Raj Bhavan any more.... She is scared. She is afraid of facing misconduct again,” Mamata said.

She asked whether Bose had the moral right to talk about the alleged sexual abuse of women in Sandeshkhali.

Bose had visited Sandeshkhali on February 12 and assured the women all possible help to ensure justice. He had announced the establishment of a “Peace Room” at the Raj Bhavan, where he offered shelter to the alleged victims.

“Can you (the governor) give a sandesh (message) on Sandeshkhali?” Mamata asked. She underlined how she had ensured administrative action against those involved in landgrab in Sandeshkhali and brought the situation under control.

Modi, who addressed three poll rallies in Bengal on Friday, mentioned the complaints of sexual abuse in Sandeshkhali at the meetings in East Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia. He urged the people to teach Trinamool a lesson for not honouring “mothers and sisters”.

“Yesterday, you (Modi) stayed there overnight. I did not hear any word from you regarding the incident (allegation against the governor),” Mamata said. “There were your people (officials from the Prime Minister’s Office), but the girl left the place crying,” she added, referring to a video in which the woman appears to be sobbing while narrating her complaint to police at the Raj Bhavan outpost on Thursday. “And now you are talking about the dignity of mothers and sisters... don’t you feel ashamed?”

Mamata and her party have long been accusing Modi of selective outrage at crimes against women, citing his silence on sexual violence on women in UP and Manipur.

On Thursday evening, the woman had lodged a complaint with Hare Street police station alleging Bose had made “physical advances” after trying to lure her with the promise of a “promotion”. The woman has been working as a contractual employee at the Raj Bhavan since 2019.