KOLKATA: BJP president Amit Shah today said the victory of three party candidates in the last Assembly poll in West Bengal went to prove that the party could no longer be ignored in the state.
“Don’t think that we have won just three seats and got 10 per cent votes in Bengal. In Haryana and Assam, we had only a handful of MLAs in the past, but in the last Assembly poll we were able to form the governments there. The statistics shows that BJP can no longer be ignored in the state,” Mr Shah said.
Apart from state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who won the Kharagpur Sadar seat by defeating veteran Congress leader and alliance candidate Gyan Singh Sohanpal, BJP won Malda’s Baishnabnagar seat and Madarihat seat in north Bengal, both by defeating alliance candidates.
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This time, BJP has secured around 20,000 to 30,000 votes in 66 seats, 30,000 to 40,000 votes in 16 seats and around 40,000 to 50,000 votes in six seats.
Amit Shah said after the victory in Assam, BJP’s main target would be to form the next government in Bengal.
“After Assam, our main aim will be to form governments in states like Bengal. In whichever state the BJP has formed the government, be it Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, it is still in power. Because people know that BJP means development, BJP means overall development of the poor and downtrodden,” Mr Shah said.
He said that infiltration from Bangladesh into West Bengal would not stop unless a BJP government was installed in the state.
Significantly, Mr Shah remained silent on the chit fund scam in the state and refrained from attacking the TMC government.
PTI