Unmask TMC’s misrule and corruption in Bengal: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked the BJP’s West Bengal unit to unitedly fight against the ruling TMC and unmask corruption and misrule by it, a senior party leader said on Saturday.

Shah also asked the BJP state unit to strengthen its organisation.

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Shah, on a two-day visit to Bengal, held two rounds of closed-door meetings with the state-level leaders — on Friday night and on Saturday morning.

“Amit Shah said the party needs to be strengthened at the grassroot level and will grow only on the strength of its organisation,” he said.

“He has that when a party is in the opposition, it has to face many challenges. It has to emerge victorious after facing those challenges,” the BJP leader added.

‘Win 35 LS seats’

According to BJP sources, Shah set a target of winning 35 plus Lok Sabha seats from the state out of total 42 in 2024.

He told the party leaders to fight unitedly against the “misrule” of the TMC and unmask its “corruption and atrocities”.

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“We must ensure the BJP wins at least 35 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls. Our focus and energy must be directed towards achieving the goal,” a leader quoted Shah as saying.

Addressing a rally in Birbhum, Shah claimed that if the BJP sweeps the Lok Sabha battle, the Mamata Banerjee government will not survive beyond 2025.

Referring to the by-election in Sagardighi Assembly seat in which the BJP slipped to the third position, Shah asked the state unit to ensure that the slide in vote share was “checked”.

Central forces

Several state BJP leaders demanded deployment of central forces during the upcoming panchayat polls.

“He (Shah) said if the state election commission demands central forces, there is no harm in providing it. But he said first we must strengthen our organisation,” the BJP leader said.

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Shah’s advice comes at a time when the state BJP unit is plagued by infighting and exodus and it is still licking its wounds after the drubbing in the 2021 assembly elections.

(With agency inputs)