BJP, Trinamool to launch poll campaign in West Bengal with PM Modi, Mamata Banerjee rallies on April 3
Kolkata: As Lok Sabha elections draw near, the political temperature in West Bengal is set to soar high with BJP and Trinamool Congress launching their election campaign in the state on Wednesday. While Modi will address a rally at Siliguri, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold her first public meeting at Dinhata, both in North Bengal.
The two leaders are expected to spar over a number of issues, both national and local as Mamata has become a rallying point for the anti-BJP parties in recent times. PM Modi has also not missed even a single chance to take swipes at the former during his election rallies.
West Bengal is a politically crucial state with 42 Lok Sabha seats, third largest after Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats and Maharashtra with 48 seats. The BJP is looking to makes inroads into the state is in high spirits after a good performance in last year rural polls and also in a few bypolls. The panchayat elections in the state saw the saffron party emerging as the only competitor against the TMC, pipping CPI(M) and Congress.
BJP president Amit Shah has also set an ambitious target of winning at least 35 of the 42 seats. In the 2014 elections, TMC swept the polls securing 34 parliamentary constituencies. While the BJP and CPI(M) could only manage two seats each, Congress had won four seats.
Recently, CM Mamata Banerjee had launched a blistering attack at PM Modi at a rally in Andhra Pradesh, where she challenged PM for an open debate ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Taking on the BJP’s “Mai Bhi Chowkidar” campaign, Mamata said that the Modi was a “chaiwallah” in 2014 and now a “Chowkidar”, but the problems that the country is facing have increased.
On the other hand, PM Modi also targeted Mamata during his rally in Telangana where Modi asked what was Trinamool’s stand on NC chief Omar Abdullah’s demand of separate PM for Jammu and Kashmir. PM said Didi should come clean on Omar’s remarks and tell the nation if she also wants a separate PM for Kashmir.
