Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said her Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath’s disparaging remarks on Bengal “only expose how scared he is”.

Adityanath, who had heralded the first day of polling in his state by saying Uttar Pradesh would become like Bengal and Kerala if the BJP was not voted back to power, said just before the second phase on Monday that elections were violent in these two states but not in the heartland.

Mamata told ABP Ananda on Monday: “It only exposes him further, how scared he is. He calls himself a yogi, although he really is a bhogi…. Law and order incidents might take place, but what matters is whether the government takes action.”

Mamata said she would campaign in Varanasi on March 3.

On the Congress, the chief minister said: “We have no stand. They will function as they please, we will function as we please.”