'Hope TMC gundaraj ends' say families of slain Bengal BJP workers as they throng for Modi's swearing-in

The party has booked their train tickets and informed them personally, BJP leader Mukul Roy had said.

Family members of BJP workers allegedly killed by TMC activists in West Bengal arrived in New Delhi in a train Thursday morning.

New Delhi: The families of BJP workers who were killed in the last one year in political violence in West Bengal arrived in the national capital on Thursday morning to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening. Speaking to ABP News, most family members of the slain BJP workers said it was a matter of pride for them to attend the ceremony and hoped for “TMC gundaraj” to end in the state, a charge the ruling party has vigorously denied. The BJP believes it is a "gesture of showing respect to our martyrs". The party has booked their train tickets and informed them personally, BJP leader Mukul Roy had said. The families had received the invitation from the prime minister’s officer, a BJP worker said. The invitation to the kin prompted West Bengal CM to skip the swearing-in ceremony, citing "untrue" claims made by the BJP that 54 of its workers were killed in political violence in Bengal. She had earlier expressed her desire to attend the function citing "constitutional courtesy" after having spoken to a couple of chief ministers of other states. "Congratulations, new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji. It was my plan to accept the 'Constitutional invitation' and attend the oath-taking ceremony. However in the last one hour, I am seeing media reports that the BJP are claiming people have been murdered in political violence in Bengal. "This is completely untrue. There have been no political murders in Bengal. These deaths may have occurred due to personal enmity, family quarrels and other disputes; nothing related to politics. There is no such record with us," she had writtedn on Twitter. By inviting these fifty four families, the BJP is also sending out a message to the Mamata government that its plan to make deeper inroads in Bengal is currently on. The TMC, which is in midst of facing a mass exodus of its leaders to the saffron party, believes the move to invite them is to "humiliate" the state administration. The BJP in its best-ever performance in the state grabbed 18 of the state’s 42 seats. The TMC won 22 seats, a steep decline from the 34 it had won in the previous national polls.