BJP will get snub in West Bengal: Trinamool Congress

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress today said that the BJP's growing interest in West Bengal would be snubbed by the people of the state.

"Before the last Lok Sabha polls the BJP had spent crores through advertisements to get votes. But in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee secured 34 seats, which is a record since Independence," senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee told reporters.

The BJP is now sending leaders from Delhi to establish a grip here again as by-polls are going to be held in two Assembly seats where the party has fielded candidates, he said.

"After getting 17 per cent vote share in the Lok Sabha elections here, the BJP is now feeling that it was gaining control here," Chatterjee, also the state's parliamentary affairs minister, said.

"Let me tell you that the people of the state will again snub the party and there is no way that the development path charted out by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee can be thwarted by baseless remarks which are being made by the BJP," Chatterjee said.

"BJP is sure of defeat and that is why the party is sending leaders from Delhi," he said.

BJP president Amit Shah addressed a rally in the city yesterday while the party's vice-president Muktar Abbas Naqvi held a press meet today.

He also advised the media not to indulge in spreading canards.

Chatterjee flayed the CPI(M) for pulling the state backward during the Left Front's 34 years of rule.

The TMCP, the party's student wing, is scheduled to hold a rally tomorrow in the city in support of its candidate Nayana Banerjee contesting from Chowringhee Assembly seat.