At Trinamool's mega rally, Mamata Banerjee vows to topple BJP in 2019 polls

Kolkata: Addressing the mammoth gathering in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today vowed to dethrone BJP from power at the Centre and foretold that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party will get a “big blow” in the 2019 general elections.

A confident Trinamool Congress supremo said that the BJP will get less than 100 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"Bengal will show the path," Mamata Banerjee told at an annual rally in the heart of Kolkata to commemorate 1993 firing outside Victoria House that killed 13 youth congress workers. 

The West Bengal Chief Minister also exuded confidence that her party will win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats. 

"We will win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. It is our pledge. We will oust the BJP to save the country. We will organise a big rally here in January and invite all the (opposition) leaders," she said. 

The party presently has 34 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. 

Mamata Banerjee, who mooted the idea of a federal front to defeat the BJP, said, "We don't bother about the chair. We only bother about the people and the country." 

Taking a dig at the BJP for the collapse of a makeshift tent at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Midnapore, the chief minister said, "They cannot build a pandal. How can they build the country?"

Nearly 90 people were reported to have been injured in the accident.

Mamata Banerjee said the number of BJP's Lok Sabha seats would significantly come down in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. 

"During the no-confidence vote in the Lok Sabha yesterday, they (NDA) got 325 votes, but in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, their strength will come down to barely 100 seats," she said.

Mamata Banerjee also made it a point to downplay BJP's effort towards highlighting PM Modi's success in the no-trust motion as a reflection of the BJP's growing popularity in the country. The motion was negated by 325 of the 451 lawmakers, a two-third majority in excess of the NDA's strength.

"That number was inside the house. Outside, in a democracy, they will not win," she said. 

Mamata Banerjee added that the AIADMK, which had supported the BJP, will have to pay for choosing the wrong side.

"They are talking about 2024. Let them first cross 2019," the Trinamool Congress chief said, a rebuttal to PM Modi who asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to prep for moving a no-trust motion against his party in 2024.

The Trinamool Congress will launch a campaign, "remove BJP, save country" on August 15 and organise a mega rally in the state on January 19 that, she said, will be attended by all India leaders from across the country. "They will see Bengal is ready," she said.