Amit Shah vows battle for West Bengal, taunts Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Throwing a challenge to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on her home turf, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday declared that the BJP will not rest till it conquers Bengal. He asserted the lotus would definitely bloom in the Trinamul Congress supremo’s Assembly constituency Bhowanipore too.

“Seventy per cent of the country is under the rule of the BJP. But I feel until it comes to power in Bengal, the mission of Ebar Bangla (Now Bengal) will not be accomplished. The lotus will bloom in Bhowanipore too,” he said at a rally in Ms Banerjee’s Assembly constituency in the afternoon.

Mr Shah also called on party activisits to work in unison to strengthen the party’s organisation and grip on voters. Reiterating that the BJP’s prospects in the state were bright for 2019, he noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development chariot would continue to succeed further.

At around 2 pm, the BJP president, accompanied by senior leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya, Babul Supriyo and Dilip Ghosh, visited the Chetla Lockgate area in Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s Ward 82 under tight security arrangements. He was welcomed with beating of drums and a shower of flower petals. Mr Shah held a meeting with party workers as part of its booth chalo drive and visited five families at their homes. He was greeted with an aarti and was offered sweets.

In the morning, Mr Shah quipped the chief minister had started suffering from “BJP phobia”, and said while speaking at the Kolkata Press Club: “Mamataji has developed BJP phobia. She now finds the BJP everywhere... She earlier used to criticise the CPI(M). Now she criticises the BJP. This is a sign that speaks a lot about our party.”

Brushing aside Trinamul’s accusation that the BJP was behind a “conspiracy” to implicate its leaders in the Narada sting, Mr Shah claimed Ms Banerjee’s party had no answers refuting the allegations against them. “Several Trinamul leaders were caught taking money on TV. This is not just an allegation. There is no conspiracy in it,” he said.

Mr Shah added: “Now the case is under investigation by the CBI, which does not work under my orders, and I am no one to direct it.” He rejected speculation that the Trinamul leaders accused in the Narada case had got in touch with the BJP to save themselves.

He also attacked the Trinamul government over its “politics of appeasement”, and targeted the state government over the deterioration of law and order in the state. Mr Shah said the BJP’s “Ebar Bangla” mission would bear fruit soon.

Mr Shah claimed that the BJP had done nothing to divide people on the basis of their religious faith, and added: “We never divide voters on the basis of who is in the minority or in the majority camp. We only focus on development.”

In a swipe at the Trinamul Congress, the BJP chief noted that no BJP leader had been booked in a case of corruption. He said: “Our struggle is against Trinamul and the corruption perpetrated by it. We witness an unprecedented support for the BJP in Bengal. We want to bring back the lost glory of Bengal.”