‘LS polls to mark end of TMC rule’
KOLKATA: The 2019 Lok Sabha elections will mark the beginning of the end of Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule in West Bengal, BJP president Amit Shah said in a public meeting in Purulia on Thursday, urging people to rout the ruling party in the state in the next Assembly elections.
“Mamata is now too busy is creating a grand alliance nationally... In 2019, BJP will be the number one party in Bengal winning 22 seats,” Shah said.
Thursday was the second day of Shah’s two-day visit to the state, which is in focus for the party ahead of the LS polls. “All factories, except the ones that make crude bombs, have shut down,” he said.
“First because of the communists and then because of Mamata, Bengal’s contribution to country’s GDP came down from 25% to 4%. Money to the tune of ₹3.6 lakh crore sent by Union government did not reach the poor. Only mafia dealing in land, cattle and coal are flourishing in Bengal,” he alleged.
“He (Shah) is resorting to untruth when he says the Centre has given the state huge sums of money. In fact, we are continuing programmes that the Centre has abandoned,” said the state’s finance minister Amit Mitra.
“Let them guard their own turf. Then only they should think of Bengal. We are winning elections by securing more than 50% votes,” said TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee.