NEW DELHI: TMC leaders are joining BJP as Mamata Banerjee has failed the people of Bengal, home minister Amit Shah has said. He was addressing a BJP rally virtually, at Howrah on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Shah was scheduled to attend the rally in person, but his trip to the state was cancelled at the last moment.
"Leaders of Trinamool Congress and other parties are joining Bharatiya Janata Party. Mamata di will find herself alone by the time election comes. She has done injustice to people of state," Shah said in his adderss.
Accusing Banerjee of nepotism, Shah said that the Modi government is working towards 'jan kalyan' (serving people) while the Banerjee government is working towards 'bhatija kalyan' (serving nephew).
The refernce was at Trinamool's Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is also a nephew of the Bengal chief minister.
The current situation in Bengal is worse than that under the Left Front rule, Shah added.
Forme TMC leaders Rajib Banerjee, Baishali Dalmiya, Prabir Ghoshal, Rathin Chakraborti and Rudranil Ghosh, who joined BJP last week, attended the rally.
Union minister Smriti Irani, West Bengal BJP vice-president Mukul Roy and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in-charge of West Bengal were also present for the rally at Dumurjala stadium.
Addressing his first rally after joining BJP, Rajib Banerjee said, "We want double engine government in West Bengal. We want Bharatiya Janata Party government at both the Centre and state for Sonar Bangla."
Banerjee had recently quit as Bengal minister and also from the TMC.
Suvendu Adhikari, another former TMC leader who is now with BJP, said that by February 28 nobody will be left in Banerjee's party.
"Trinamool Congress is no longer a party but a private limited company. By February 28, TMC private limited company will be vacated, nobody will be left there," Adhikari said.
Elections for 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal are expected in April-May this year. BJP is seeking to come to power in the state and has been extensively campaigning over the past few months.
(With agency inputs)