BJP ahead in 92 of 135 seats in Bengal: Shah

Dhupguri/Hemtabad/Siliguri: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the BJP is ahead in 92 of the 135 seats that went to polls in the first four phases of the West Bengal assembly elections, and asked people to give a grand farewell to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by handing over 200 plus seats to the saffron party.

Seeking to allay fears created among the people of Darjeeling hills by "lies" spread by the Trinamool Congress, the senior BJP leader said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will have no impact on the Gorkhas.

"In the four phases of elections held so far in West Bengal, the BJP is ahead in over 92 seats," Shah said, addressing a public meeting at Dhupguri assembly constituency in North Bengals Jalpaiguri district, which goes to polls in the fifth phase on April 17.

He said that as Banerjee is a "big leader', people should give her a grand farewell by ensuring that the saffron party wins more than 200 seats in the elections for the 294- member assembly.

Mocking Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, for allegedly uttering his name more than that of Bengal in her speeches, Shah said had she talked more about the state, the CM could have had a chance to win the elections.

He said that the death of four men in firing by the CISF personnel at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district during polling on April 10 is sad.

Banerjee condemned the death of these four people but did not even mention the name of Anand Barman, a BJP worker who was also shot dead by miscreants in Sitalkuchi on the same day, as he was from the Rajbangshi community which is not her vote bank, Shah claimed.

At another rally in Hemtabad in Uttar Dinajpur district, he said that BJP's nominee from the seat, Chandrima Roy, is an example of alleged atrocities that his party's workers and women have gone through under Mamata Banerjee's rule.

Roy is the widow of BJP MLA from Hemtabad, Debendra Nath Roy, who was found hanging in front of a tea shop, about one km from his home, in July 2020. While the BJP claimed that he was murdered, the police said that he died

by suicide.