BJP just No.3 or 4 in Bengal, can’t take on Trinamool, says CM Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has pooh-poohed the idea of the BJP posing any threat to her party, Trinamool Congress, in the next assembly polls, saying it was just a party No.3 or 4 in the state.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday pooh-poohed the idea of the BJP posing any threat to her party, Trinamool Congress, in the next assembly polls, saying it was just a party No.3 or 4 in the state.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, seen with state finance minister Amit Mitra, addresses the media at her office Nabanna on Friday.(PTI)

“They cannot... they cannot. What do you think? Now they are the party No.3 or 4 in Bengal... How will they be able to capture all the seats? Forcefully?” she asked.

The TMC supremo asserted that if the BJP can take on her party in West Bengal, the TMC would target the BJP in entire India. “If the BJP targets West Bengal, the TMC will target India,” she stated.

“If they target Bengal, don’t you think we will target India? If they target Bengal, Odisha and Bihar, we will go all the way,” she added.

Banerjee made the assertion in response to a reporter’s query on the BJP’s reported move to chalk out a strategy to take on the TMC in the assembly elections as well as in the zilla parishad polls.

She said West Bengal was not the place where the politics of division would succeed.

“I have full trust in Bengal. Bengal is not the place where you will divide and say anything and people will start accepting that,” she said.

Banerjee also said she would be happy to join a combined anti-BJP front if any formal proposal comes her way before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“I will be happy if there is a combined front. If there is any formal proposal, I am there. I have no problems,” she said.

She said that existence of a good government and a strong political opposition was important for the betterment of the country.

“In democracy, there is a government and an opposition. For the betterment of the country, the party running the government should do good work and the opposition party should also be strong,” she said.