We will start 'BJP hatao, desh bachao' campaign on August 15: Mamata Banerjee

With nearly 40 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state being located in villages and semi-urban areas, the party is hoping to cash in on its stupendous performance in the May panchayat polls, where it managed to win all the zilla parishads and nearly 80 per cent of the gram panchayat seats.

The picture was tweeted by a user Garga Chatterjee.

Kolkata (West Bengal): Launching a direct campaign against the ruling government, TMC Chief & West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the party will start 'BJP hatao, desh bachao' campaign on August 15^th. Addressing the TMC's annual Martyrs' Day rally in Esplanade and also spelling out the party's electoral strategy, Mamata said 2019 will be a huge blow for the BJP for which Bengal will show the path. Assailing the BJP for not being stop incidents of mob-lynching, she said, “the way lynching is happening everywhere in the country, they are creating Talibanis among people.” “ In BJP & RSS, there are good people whom I respect but some are playing dirty games,” she added. "Those who can't make a pandal, want to build a country?" she took a swipe at the BJP. The TMC observes the Martyrs' Day every year on July 21 in its bid to pay homage to 13 Youth Congress workers, allegedly killed in police firing in 1993 during the Left Front regime in West Bengal. Banerjee was a leader of the Youth Congress at that time, said a PTI report. The rally also comes a day after the no-confidence motion against the Modi government was decisively defeated 325-126. Banerjee had earlier said her party was supporting the motion against the BJP government at the Centre in the greater interest of the Opposition unity, and the TMC had issued a whip to its Lok Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in the House yesterday. According to senior TMC leaders quoted by PTI, the party's aim to play a major role at the national-level can only be successful if it manages to bag the maximum number of seats out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The party presently has 34 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. With nearly 40 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state being located in villages and semi-urban areas, the party is hoping to cash in on its stupendous performance in the May panchayat polls, where it managed to win all the zilla parishads and nearly 80 per cent of the gram panchayat seats. Meanwhile, the party got a booster by the joining of former Rajya Sabha MP & BJP leader Chandan Mitra. Former CPM MP Moinul Hasan, Congress's Sabina Yasmin and Mizoram advocate-general Biswajit Deb also joined the party.