Abhishek Banerjee sets target of over 250 seats for TMC in

Senior Trinamool Congress leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday set a target of winning 250 plus seats in the next Legislative Assembly poll.

Abhishek, who heads the youth wing of the TMC and is nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said the BJP's thinking of winning Bengal has no basis.

"In the next assembly poll in 2021, we should fight to win 250 plus seats in the state. The BJP thinks it can win Bengal. But they are wrong.

"If our party supremo Mamata Banerjee permits, we would score 10 goals against BJP everyday and they won't stand a chance against us," Abhishek said while addressing TMC's students wing-Trinamool Chatra Parishad- foundation day rally here.

The total strength of the West Bengal assembly is 294.

They (BJP) has emptied the coffers of central government and RBI and are lecturing others on financial issues, he said.

While referring to Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s decision to give Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the Centre, Abhishek said the reserve money of the central bank has also been exhausted due to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

BJP's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh, while reacting to Abhishek's claim, said he is living in fool's paradise.

"He is living in fool's paradise if he thinks that TMC will win 250 seats. The TMC would find it tough to get even 30 seats and acquire main opposition party status," Ghosh said.

The BJP, in the general election this year, bagged 18 of the 42 seats in the state, four less than the ruling TMC. The TMC's tally came down from 34 in 2014 to 22 seats.

In the last few years, the saffron party has made deep inroads in Bengal and emerged as the main challenger to the ruling TMC by pushing the Congress and the Left Front to distant third and fourth positions respectively.

It's leaders are now asserting that their next target was to unseat Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 assembly elections.