"When results of Vidhan Sabha election will be declared BJP will form the government with more than 200 seats," Union Home Minister said after welcoming bunch of rebel TMC leaders to the saffron party.
Saturday turned out to be a high-voltage political day for West Bengal as former TMC heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari along with several other rebel leaders joined BJP at the mega rally in presence of Home Minister and other leaders of the saffron party.
Adhikari joined the podium along with Shah at Midnapore College Ground. He was received by Union minister of state for Woman and Child Development Debasree Choudhuri.
Suvendu, credited with strengthening the TMC in rural West Bengal, resigned as an MLA from Nandigram on December 16 after being at loggerheads with Mamata over the organizational decisions taken by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and political strategist Prashant Kishor.
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Amit Shah's West Bengal Visit | Top Development Of The Day
1. BJP leader and Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata after 1 am on Saturday on a two-day visit to take stock of his party’s affairs in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections slated to be held in the next few months.
2. Ending weeks-long speculations, Adhikari finally on Saturday joined the saffron clad and vowed to oust the Mamata Banerjee regime in the 2021 assembly elections, exuding confidence that his new party will form the next government in the state.
3. Adhikari, who joined the BJP at Home Minister Amit Shah's rally here, claimed that the TMC came into existence because of the saffron party. "I had first met Amit Shah during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls... When I was down with COVID, my former party did not enquire about my health, while Amit Shah twice enquired about how I am," he said addressing the rally.
4. As many as thirteen MLAs, an MP and former MP joined BJP in presence of Amit Shah today. These leaders are Suvendu Adhikari, Tapasi Mondal, Ashoke Dinda, Sudip Mukherjee, Saikat Panja, Shilbhadra Dutta, Dipali Biswas, Sukra Munda, Shyamapda Mukherjee, Biswajit Kundu, Banasri Maity, Sunil Mondal and Dasarath Tirkey.
5. "All good leaders from TMC are joining BJP to be under the leadership of PM Modi. Mamata didi accuses us of poaching leaders of other parties. I want to ask Mamata Banerjee which was her real party," HM Amit Shah during the mega rally warning Bengal CM that the more violence she perpetrates, more stronger will the BJP emerge.
6. "You gave three decades to Congress, 27 years to Communists and 10 years to Mamata didi. Give 5 years to BJP, we will make Bengal 'Sonar Bangla'," Shah said in Paschim Medinipur rally.
7. Shah on Saturday paid tribute to Swami Vivekananda at the the latter's ancestral residence in Kolkata. Shah also traveled to Midnapore by a chopper where he paid tributes to freedom fighter Khudiram Bose and offered prayers at two temples in the district.
8. Shah's two-day visit came amidst a growing rebellion in the ruling Trinamool Congress with many disgruntled legislators stepping down from their posts. A convoy of as many as 30 vehicles headed out for the Midnapore College Ground where Union Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed rebel TMC leaders.
9. Shah, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s national general secretary (in-charge of West Bengal) Kailash Vijayvargiya, national vice-president Mukul Roy and BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh, had lunch at a farmer's home at Balijuri village.
10. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and other leaders of her party have often accused the BJP of bringing in "outsiders" to West Bengal ahead of assembly elections, likely in April-May next year.