Kolkata, Apr 22 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that the Congress would not win even a single seat in the West Bengal assembly polls, and that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s association with the grand old party would weaken her further politically. Addressing an election rally at Dum Dum near New Barrackpore, Shah also said that the Congress was headed for a crushing defeat in several states.
“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the Congress will not even cross double digits. In West Bengal, you may not even be able to open your account, and in Assam, the Congress will face its biggest defeat ever,” he said.
Training his guns at Banerjee, Shah said, “Mamata didi, you are sitting with this same Congress. Your situation is also going to worsen.” The senior BJP leader also accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge of lowering the level of political discourse because of his proximity to Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi, the more you abuse Modi ji, the more the lotus will bloom… By staying with Rahul Gandhi, Kharge ji’s language has also deteriorated,” he said.
“The Congress won’t be able to open its account in Bengal,” Shah asserted.
Seeking to make infiltration a central poll issue, he urged voters to support the BJP not merely to elect MLAs or form government, but to transform the state.
“Cast your votes to create an infiltrator-free Bengal, not for any MLA or merely to form a BJP government,” Shah said.
The Union minister also targeted the Mamata Banerjee government over law and order, industrial decline and the alleged presence of illegal infiltrators in the state.
“Due to Mamata didi, industries have left Bengal, but due to the BJP, thugs will flee Bengal,” Shah said.
He alleged that women in West Bengal no longer felt safe under the TMC dispensation.
“The daughters of Bengal have become completely unsafe. I promise that after May 5… we will work to free the mothers, sisters and daughters of the state from fear,” Shah said.
Addressing another rally at Habra in North 24 Parganas, the home minister criticised Kharge again, asserting that being in Rahul Gandhi’s company, the Congress chief was not thinking straight “He (Kharge) calls Modi ji, who wiped out terrorism from India, a terrorist… The Congress has TMC’s support in Delhi; remove Mamata Banerjee from power and elect the BJP, we will end all terror activities in Bengal,” Shah added.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases – on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4. PTI PNT SMY RBT
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