BJP eyes 2016 West Bengal Assembly polls after winning Basirhat South

KOLKATA: Buoyed by its performance in the Assembly bye-elections where the party has secured a win from the Basirhat Dakshin seat, the BJP central leadership is now eyeing the Kolkata civic elections slated for next year and the 2016 Assembly elections to make West Bengal TMC free.

BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh, the main architect of the party's rise in Bengal, said the BJP would now eye next year's Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections and the 2016 Assembly polls in the state.

"We thank our workers who have been with us in our hardships and all those who have supported us. We will now prepare ourselves for next year's KMC polls and 2016 Assembly polls in order to make West Bengal free from the misrule of Trinamool Congress," Singh told PTI.

"The results prove that only we can fight the misrule of the Trinamool in Bengal and people have restored faith in us," he said.

The BJP today managed to win a seat in the West Bengal Assembly after 15 years while the state's ruling Trinamool Congress retained the Chowringhee seat in the city.

BJP's state General Secretary Shamik Bhattacharya won the Basirhat Dakshin seat and TMC's Nayana Bandyopadhyay won the Chowringhee seat.