In Bengal, Union home minister Shah sets target for BJP: 35 out of 42 LS seats

SURI (BIRBHUM): Union home minister Amit Shah Friday set BJP a tough target of 35 of the total 42 seats from Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, nearly double of the 18 constituencies that the saffron party had won in 2019.
"Give us 35 seats in 2024 if you want to make (Narendra) Modiji PM for a third term. If you do that in 2024, the Trinamool government won't survive beyond 2025," he said at his first public rally at Birbhum's Suri.
The minister told the gathering that BJP needed the numbers to end "Trinamool torture, its politics of appeasement, bhai-bhatija raj, overall corruption and infiltration" in Bengal.
Spelling out the roadmap for BJP with emphasis on development, welfare of the poor and an assertion of the Hindu identity, he said: "There were attacks on the Ram Navami processions in Howrah and Rishra. It happened because of politics of appeasement by Trinamool. Give us the majority, no one will dare to attack Ram Navami processions."
Coming down heavily on the Trinamool government , Shah said: "Didi (CM Mamata Banerjee) is not bothered about the poor in Bengal. Her sole aim is to make her nephew the CM. This is not going to happen... the CM this time will be from BJP. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be a trailer to this episode."
In the backdrop of accusations from the opposition about misuse of central investigating agencies, the home minister referred to the cash-for-jobs scam, saying: "Didi had promised employment to 3 lakh Bengal youths. Instead, Trinamool looted the youths aspiring for jobs. ED had to carry money from the house of Trinamool functionaries in two trunks. And they (Trinamool) rose in protest when ED arrested the minister. Do whatever you want. The battle against corruption won't stop."