New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has questioned Amit Shah’s position as national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming he was appointed to the post only because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in power.
“I don’t consider Amit Shah worthy of being a block president, let alone a party president,” Banerjee said in an exclusive interview to News18 Network editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi. “He has no powers. He holds the post because Modiji put him there.”
Banerjee said she could accept senior BJP leaders like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who she had worked with. “You may feel Amit Shah is a leader; I don't think so, neither do the people,” she added.
Responding to Shah’s claims that the BJP will win more than 23 seats in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress president said the saffron party would be unable to win even a single seat in the state where it had won two in the 2014 elections.
“They won’t be able to win a single seat. They think whatever they say will come true… they attack institutions and abuse people. It doesn't look good when the PM abuses people,” she said.
According to Banerjee’s calculations, neither the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nor the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will come to power next month and India may see a “new combination” government at the Centre.
She also claimed that West Bengal (42 seats) and Uttar Pradesh (80 seats) will emerge as the critical states, predicting a nought for the BJP in Punjab, Delhi and the southern states. Regional parties would jointly decide their strategy to counter the saffron party’s juggernaut after the results are declared on May 23, she claimed.
“Gaining or losing is not the point. Saving the nation is our first priority, not individual goals,” she said.
Banerjee also took a swipe at Modi’s ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ campaign, saying the Prime Minister changed his 2014 ‘chaiwala’ pitch as the same tea when heated twice turns poisonous.
Comments
0 comment