Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has claimed that the saffron party will form the next government in West bengal with a thumping majority. In an exclusive conversation with India TV during a road show in Singur in Hooghly district, Shah said that the party candidates will emerge victorious on 65-68 seats out of 91 seats that went to polls in the first three phases.
Shah on Wednesday visited Singur which was once the epicentre for anti-land acquisition movement spearheaded by the Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee had led a campaign in Singur in 2007 after Tata Motors acquired land to set up a factory to manufacture its much-hyped small car Nano. The company had to shift its Nano factory from Singur in 2008 to Gujarat.
Shah said that Singur has been shunned by industry since the agitation and promised rapid industrialisation of the area if BJP is voted to power. After winning the elections, he said, the BJP government will ensure that small, medium and large industries are set up in Singur, situated beside the national highway connecting Kolkata and New Delhi.
"We will develop the area by setting up industries and a Rs 500 crore intervention fund has been announced for potato farming, for which the area is known, in our Sankalp Patra (manifesto)," he said.
"We will pursue politics of development, dialogue and cooperation, instead of confrontation," he said.
The senior BJP leader accused Mamata Banerjee of indulging in politics of appeasement for votes. Shah then said that he welcomes Mamata Banerjee for invoking Hindu Gods and Goddesses, and for reciting Chandi Path (hymns to Goddess Durga) at public meetings, but quipped it was "too late for her".
"The BJP will win Bengal elections with more than 200 seats in the kitty," he said.
Shah's road show meandered through the roads of Singur town for nearly an hour from Dulepara more to Singur police station. Colourful posters, BJP flags and green and saffron balloons dotted route.
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