New Delhi: Surprising one and all, the West Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh said TMC Supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has the best chance to become the first Bengali prime minister of the country.

Ghosh, who was extending birthday greetings to Banerjee said, he prayed for the good health and success of her as the fate fate of the state depended on her success.

"We want her to be fit so that she can work well. She needs to remain fit because if there is any Bengali who has the chance to be the PM from this Bengal, then she is the one," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

When Ghosh was asked if anybody from BJP’s state unit had the chance of becoming PM, he said that Mamata Banerjee was ahead in the race among Bengalis who can become Prime Minister. "We can surely have one from Bengal after her. But she has the first chance. We couldn't have Jyoti Basu as the first Bengali prime minister as his party did not allow him to be," he said

He referred to Pranab Mukherjee from the state as the first Bengali to become President and said that now it's time to have a Bengali as PM. The statement came as a shocker for the state BJP as it is engaged in a bitter fight against the TMC in the state.