Amit Shah vows BJP will get most' West Bengal LS seats

Kolkata: Kickstarting his three-day West Bengal tour, BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday predicted in Siliguri that the BJP would bag the majority of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general election. He also sounded extremely upbeat about the BJP coming to power in the state.

“The BJP will certainly get the most seats in 2019. It will also form the government here. For the next few days I will tour across the state. So you do not need to worry. Stay connected with the party strongly,” he told a group of party workers at a meeting as he launched the “booth chalo” drive in Naxalbari.

Mr Shah also addressed a rally where he asserted the lotus was all set to bloom in the state. “In Bengal, the BJP’s victory is confirmed. The Trinamul Congress plans to halt Modiji’s chariot of development. Its government is not allowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welfare schemes to reach the grassroots level here. The Ujala scheme is run successfully in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana,” he claimed.

Mr Shah alleged: “But when it comes to West Bengal, challenges come in the way of reaching the benefits of the scheme to the poor. I want to tell Trinamul leaders the lotus will bloom in the dirt the more they spread the dirt of violence.” He said the state had got poorer by the day due to the rise in violence.

“But it is sure violence is defeated by development,” the BJP president added. “This is Naxalbari — where the violence once started. Now Modiji’s mantra — of sabka saath, sabka vikas — is felt here,” he said, adding that the state would grow under Mr Modi’s leadership.

In another rally in Siliguri Tuesday evening, Mr Shah attacked the Trinamul Congress over the alleged role of a dozen of its leaders in the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation. He alleged that fake currencies spread to the country from Malda.

In the morning, Mr Shah arrived at Bagdogra airport and visited the house of BJP worker Raju Mahali from the tribal community at Dakkhin Katiajote village in Naxalbari. Sitting on the floor, he had lunch on a banana leaf there.

Mr Shah will spend Wed-nesday in Kolkata, where he will join a “booth chalo” drive at Bhowan-ipore, the stronghold of Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee’s Assembly constituency. Trinamul general secretary Partha Chatterjee attacked Mr Shah’s claims and said while the BJP was talking of coming to power in the state, Trinamul would target New Delhi.

“We thought he will talk about the Centre’s partisan attitude towards our state. But he remained silent. Having lunch on a banana leaf, he has started dreaming too much. Some leaders from outside come here and talk big,” Mr Chatterjee said.

He added: “We advise them to talk less and work more because they do not even have the ability to bloom buds, which is required first.”