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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday set a target for the Bharatiya Janata Party to win 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in next year's election and claimed that the Mamata Banerjee government in the state won't survive beyond 2025 if the goal is achieved.
Asserting that Narendra Modi would again be the country's prime minister in 2024, Shah said that leaders like Mamata Banerjee can never give a befitting reply to Pakistan or fight militancy in Kashmir.
Shah's comments drew sharp reactions from the Trinamool Congress, which asked how a union minister could 'openly threaten to topple an elected government'.
While the party's virtual number two Abhishek Banerjee, whom Shah had targeted in his speech, chipped in to say in a tweet that he would quit politics if the home minister released the 'Rs 1.15 lakh crore rightfully due to my state'.
"Let me make it very clear that in 2024, Narendra Modi will again be the country's Prime Minister. The people of Bengal have given us great responsibility by giving us 77 seats in the last assembly polls.
"Give us more than 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal, and I can assure you that the corrupt TMC government won't survive beyond 2025," Amit Shah claimed while addressing a rally in the Suri area of Birbhum district, under a smouldering sun.
The Mamata Banerjee government is scheduled to complete its third term in 2026 and her party's leaders saw the 2025 ouster claim made in a speech ahead of Bengal's panchayat polls as an 'unconstitutional' threat.
However, Banerjee personally refrained from making any comments unlike in earlier years.
The BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 elections and observers said doubling this number would require an immense organisational challenge.
Later in the evening, while visiting Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata, Shah again exuded confidence about winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from the state and said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi would return to power by bagging more than 300 seats across the country in 2024 parliament polls."
Leaders like Mamata Banerjee can 'never give a befitting reply to Pakistan, fight militancy in Kashmir', the BJP leader said, adding that only Prime Minister Modi can handle such national issues.
Shah criticised the TMC over the arrest of its ministers and leaders in graft cases by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and said the party should be ashamed of itself.
Referring to the criticism that central agencies have targeted the TMC for political reasons, Shah said those who engage in corruption and loot will eventually end up in prison.
Hitting out at the TMC over dynasty politics, the former BJP president repeatedly used the phrase 'Didi aur Bhatija (Elder sister as Mamata Banerjee is called by her supporters and her nephew)' during his speech.
He claimed Banerjee does not care about the youth of Bengal who were being duped in the school jobs scam, as her only target is to make 'her nephew the next chief minister of this state'.
"But let me clarify, the next West Bengal chief minister will be from the BJP. Only the BJP can fight and defeat the corrupt TMC. Under Mamata Banerjee's rule, West Bengal has become a hub of bomb-making factories," the Union home minister claimed. Banerjee's nephew Abhishek is TMC's national general secretary and a two-time MP.
Abhishek Banerjee in a tweeted reply tagging Shah, said, 'If my existence pains you to this extent, release the Rs 1.15 lakh crore rightfully due to my state and I'll withdraw myself from the political arena.'
Citing the example of Assam, where infiltration and cow smuggling stopped after the BJP came to power in 2016, Shah said the same would be replicated in Bengal if the saffron camp comes to power.
'TMC's affinity towards corruption can be gauged from the fact that the party is yet to remove the person (Anubrata Mondal) as its district president even after he was arrested in the cattle smuggling case,' he said.
He also referred to the ongoing investigation in the seizure of a huge cache of explosives from Birbhum recently.
On recent clashes during Ram Navami rallies in West Bengal, Shah blamed it on 'appeasement politics' of the TMC government and said once the BJP wins more than 35 seats, 'no one would dare attack Ram Navami rallies in the state'.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in West Bengal's Hooghly and Howrah districts, where clashes broke out between two groups during the Ram Navami procession.
A youth from Bihar's Munger was also arrested for carrying arms during a Ram Navami procession, whom the TMC has claimed was a BJP supporter.
Later after offering puja at Dakshineswar Temple, Shah said he prayed before Goddess that the 'law and order situation improves in the state'.
Shah's comments drew sharp reactions from the TMC.
"He can dream of winning 35 seats, just like bagging 200 plus seats in the 2021 assembly polls. How can a union minister openly threaten to topple an elected government before it completes its full term? It is now proven that a conspiracy is on to topple the state government," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
Referring to Shah's attack on TMC on the issue of dynasty politics, Ghosh said, "It seems Shah has forgotten that its leader in Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari himself, is a product of dynasty politics."
Suvendu is the son of Sisir Adhikari, a TMC MP, who has joined the BJP. Several of his family members are also political leaders in Bengal.
After speaking at the rally in Suri, Shah inaugurated the district party office in Suri.
He also met family members of the Bogtui massacre in Birbhum district, where nine persons were charred to death in March last year in the rivalry between two groups.