The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting the West Bengal Assembly elections without declaring its chief ministerial candidate, a decision the ruling Trinamool Congress has repeatedly used to target the saffron party during campaigning.
BJP's Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh has now dropped a big hint regarding the CM face. Ghosh, who is a sitting MP from Medinipur, is confident of his party's victory in the eight-phase polls. Ghosh said it was not necessary that a sitting MLA will be the CM.
"It is for the party to decide but it is not necessary a sitting MLA will become the chief minister.... when Mamata ji became chief minister she was not an MLA," Ghosh, who himself is a strong contender for the top post, told news agency PTI.
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Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a political rally in Kharagpur, heaped praise on Ghosh saying that a state president like him is the pride of the party as he had sacrificed a lot in his personal life to work for the party.
The BJP has fielded four sitting MPs, three from Lok Sabha including Union Minister Babul Supriyo, and Swapan Dasgupta, who was in Rajya Sabha, in the Assembly polls, but Dilip Ghosh is not among them.
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Ghosh asserted that there was a 'strong undercurrent' in favour of the BJP in West Bengal.
"After the first phase of polling only the BJP is confident of its victory, whereas the TMC and its leaders are frustrated. As the election will progress, the trend set by the BJP in the first phase will gain momentum and with every phase of polling TMC workers will themselves realise their defeat," he said.
Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim of BJP winning 26 seats out of 30 seats that went to polls in the first phase on March 27, Dilip Ghosh said people of the state are now 'not afraid' of casting their vote freely.
(With PTI inputs)
