E-Paper
Two-thirds majority cannot be ruled out for BJP in Bengal next year: Rajnath Singh at HTLS 2020
In the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2019, the BJP had stunned political analysts and the Trinamool Congress alike by winning nearly half of the total number of seats that the state has in the Lok Sabha.
After a spectacular victory in the recently concluded Bihar assembly polls, in which the BJP managed to secure 74 seats in the 243 member house, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that people in various states often voted on the basis of the local governance of the incumbent government as far as state polls were concerned. He also did not rule out the possibility of the BJP coming to power in West Bengal in 2021 with a two-thirds majority.
Responding to a question on whether it would be a Mamata Banerjee versus Modi fight in the Bengal assembly polls scheduled early next year, Singh said, “The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Bharatiya Janata Party may be in a position to form the government in West Bengal with a two-thirds majority.” The Bengal assembly polls are one of the most crucial elections coming up both for the BJP as well as the country. The BJP has pulled out all stops to prevent Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress from coming to power for a third straight term.
In the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2019, the BJP had stunned political analysts and the Trinamool Congress alike by winning nearly half of the total number of seats that the state has in the Lok Sabha. The BJP won 18 of the 42 seats while the TMC won 22. The BJP had promised back then that it would wipe out CM Mamata Banerjee’s party in her home state in the next assembly elections.
ALSO READ | India no longer a soft target, paradigm shift in response to terror, says Rajnath Singh at HTLS 2020
Referring to the recent win in Bihar, Singh emphasized that it was obvious that the populace had accepted the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership unanimously, despite a few setbacks in state polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and more recently in Delhi in February 2020.
The defence minister was speaking at a virtual session on the third day of the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020, in conversation with Prashant Jha, editor-views, Hindustan Times. State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, a veteran banker and Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel were some of the other speakers attending Thursday’s session of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020.
The theme of Rajnath Singh’s session at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020 was Defining a New Era in National Security.
