Amit Shah targets Mamata, says WB will have to change for development

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Sunday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo is only concerned with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh instead of focusing on the state's development.

Taking potshots at the ruling TMC government in West Bengal, Shah said, "If Mamata Banerjee spends only half her time on Bengal rather than indulging in politics, Bengal will develop. She is only concerned with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh instead of being concerned with Bengal."

Shah, who addressed a rally here today, also used the occasion to target the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Stating that 17 percent of the votes in West Bengal were for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said, "Bengal, which was the intellectual and industrial jewel of India, was reduced to poverty under the communists (CPI-M) in 34 years. To change that, you have elected Trinamool Congress but now you know that both the CPI-M and the TMC are two sides of the same coin."

Attempting to reach out to the voters of the state, the BJP President said West Bengal will have to change if it wants to move ahead on the development path.

"In 100 days of being in power, we have seen progress in the country. If Bengal wants to be part of this progress, then it will have to change," he said.

In his first visit to West Bengal after taking over as the BJP president, Shah recalled West Bengal's contribution in the Indian freedom struggle.

"Nobody can forget or take away Bengal's contribution to the freedom struggle. Some places might make money and some places might have businesses but if India has a cultural centre, it is West Bengal," he said.

The BJP, which had emerged as the third largest party behind the TMC and the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is eager to make a mark in the state which will go to polls in 2016.