West Bengal: BJP predicts Mamata govt's collapse in near future, TMC reacts sharply

BJP's tall claim: The BJP on Sunday (July 16) upped the ante against the ruling TMC in West Bengal and said that it was just a matter of time before the Mamata Banerjee government in the state collapsed.

BJP MP Shantanu Thakur said the TMC government will not last beyond five months.

"The Mamata Banerjee government has outlived its utility. Had the TMC not resorted to widespread rigging in the recently concluded panchayat polls, the BJP would have bagged thousands of more seats. But this is going to be the last election under the supervision of TMC government where all the state machineries including the State Election Commission (SEC) have failed to play a neutral and impartial role," Thakur said at a party programme in his Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district.

"I have a hunch that this government will not last beyond five months," he added.

BJP state president makes claims

Talking to the reporters, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “Anything can happen any time. Let's see what happens.”

He said that there might be a people’s uprising against the TMC in the future.

“Who knows if there’s a people’s uprising against TMC's misrule and terror. Who knows if TMC MLAs suddenly refuse to follow Mamata Banerjee’s way of functioning. I am not saying it will happen, it may not. But anything is possible in politics,” Majumdar said.

When asked about his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital on July 14, the state BJP chief said that the Centre will do anything to protect the lives of innocent people in West Bengal.

Notably, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had earlier demanded imposition of Article 355 in West Bengal stating that it was necessary to conduct central investigation in the state which was a witness to a spate of violent incidents during the panchayat polls.

“Though a democratically elected government cannot be toppled, if it fails to perform its duty as envisaged in the Constitution, the Centre has to intervene to save it from slipping into lawlessness,” he said.

Reacting sharply to the BJP leaders’ remarks, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said that they want to please the party’s top brass through their statements.

“All these BJP leaders, including Adhikari, are desperate to raise their ratings in Delhi by issuing threats to a government which came to power for the third time through a huge mandate two years ago and enjoys mass support,” he said.

Sen said BJP leaders like Adhikari and Ghosh had made similar predictions about the collapse of TMC government in December and January and "even spelt out specific dates," but nothing happened.

TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said BJP leaders are making such claims "to boost the morale of their rank and file," who had been demoralised after the panchayat poll results.

"They (BJP leaders) are themselves aware of the absurdity of their claims," he added.

(With PTI inputs)

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