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‘Won’t allow BJP here’: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee vows at rally
Speaking at a public rally in Malda, the TMC chief warned that bringing the BJP to power would ‘encourage’ riots in the state.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday warned people that bringing the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power would ‘encourage’ riots in the state, vowing that till the time she’s alive, she won’t allow the BJP in the state.
“Bringing the BJP to power means encouraging riots. If you want riots, then cast your vote for the BJP. You can’t defeat Mamata as she isn’t alone, she has the support of the people. Till the time I’m alive, I won’t allow the BJP here,” Banerjee said at a public rally in Malda, as per news agency ANI.
On Tuesday, at a rally in Burdwan, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and the two-term chief minister had accused the BJP of turning India into a "crematorium", urging people to show the door to the saffron party. She had also called herself a "Royal Bengal Tiger".
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West Bengal, where assembly elections are likely to take place in April-May, has emerged as a focal point for the BJP, which is yet to form a government in the eastern state. Though the party has an incumbent government in the neighbouring state of Assam, which, too, is likely to vote in April-May, all its attention is on Bengal, with several heavyweights like Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda campaigning in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has visited Bengal in recent days.
Meanwhile, Banerjee’s ruling TMC, which has been in power here since 2011, has been hit by defections, with several big names, including Suvendu Adhikari, moving to the BJP, which has launched several ‘rath yatras’ in the state.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nadda addressed a rally in Kharagpur, calling Banerjee a ‘dictator,’ adding that development in the poll-bound state is possible only when Banerjee leaves and lotus (BJP’s symbol) ‘blooms in West Bengal.’
