Amit Shah says BJP will win 110 seats in first phase, form government in West Bengal

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win at least 110 seats in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections and form the government in the state. Amit Shah spoke at a rally in West Bengal ahead of the phase 2 elections set for April 29. (@AmitShah/X)“The first phase of the election has just been held. Do you want to know what would be the result? The BJP will win 110 seats and wipe out the Mamata Banerjee-regime. The BJP will form the government,” Shah said, while addressing an election rally at Jamalpur in East Midnapore. Polling for 152 assembly seats was held in the first phase on April 23, while the remaining 142 seats will go to polls in the second phase on April 29. With just two days left before campaigning ends for the second phase, political parties intensified outreach over the weekend. Highlighting the incidents in Sandeshkhali, RG Kar Medical College, Durgapur Medical College, Shah alleged that women were unsafe during the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule. “In the TMC rule, women in West Bengal were not safe. Mamata Didi says that after 7 PM, mothers and sisters should not step out of their homes. Mamata Banerjee, instead of scaring the goons, intimidates our sisters. Being a woman chief minister, Mamata failed to ensure safety and security of women in the state,” he said. The Union home minister also criticised Banerjee over her opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), accusing her government of denying citizenship rights to members of the Matua community. “Didi does not allow the implementation of the CAA law. You form the government of the lotus, and after May 5, the BJP government will ensure that every brother and sister of the Matua community receives citizenship,” he said. Meanwhile, taking potshots at Banerjee over her plans to file a “legal case” against him for “violent remarks” , he said the TMC leader keeps losing in court and will continue to do so. “Mamata Banerjee keeps talking. She keeps losing in court. She’ll continue to do so. We’re among the public, and the people of Bengal will have to decide on the 29th,” he said. “What does Mamata Banerjee want to say? Should goons be respected? She (Mamata Banerjee) has a plan to respect those who trouble the public,” he added. Several senior BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also campaigned in the state. “It would not be surprising if the BJP won over 200 seats in West Bengal. Around 93 per cent voter turnout in phase 1 showed that there is no atmosphere of fear which had earlier prevented people from openly backing the BJP,” Sarma said at a press conference in Kolkata. Meanwhile, Adityanath on Saturday asserted that West Bengal, known as India’s cultural and intellectual capital, would be freed from what he described as the “syndicate” of the Trinamool Congress, Congress and Communists. “As 150 years of Vande Mataram are being completed, I believe Bengal will be freed from TMC, Congress and Communists—there is no doubt about it,” Adityanath said at a rally in Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district.