BJP president Amit Shah addresses a party rally in Kolkata on Sunday. (Press Trust of India)
Asserting that countdown has begun for the end of the "corrupt" Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of creating hurdles for a proper NIA probe into the Burdwan blast to shield her party leaders allegedly involved in the incident. (
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Mr Shah also alleged that Saradha chit fund money was used in the October 2 Burdwan blast.
"Saradha Chit Fund money was used in the Burdwan blast. The NIA is not being allowed to probe the blast properly. Hurdles are being created. It is being done in order to save TMC leaders who are involved in the blast," he said while addressing a rally in Kolkata.
A controversy broke out when permission for the rally was not granted by the state authorities, prompting the BJP to move the Calcutta High Court. The nod from the Kolkata Municipal Commission came on Saturday after the court appointed two special officers to oversee the arrangement.
Mr Shah declared that he was here to see to it that the "corrupt TMC regime is uprooted", for which, he asserted, "the countdown has begun".
The BJP president also said that Mr Modi's Lok Sabha victory march would culminate with the BJP's victory in the Assembly poll in the state due in 2016.
"It is the slogan of Narendra Modi to make West Bengal free from TMC regime. After the victory in the Lok Sabha poll, the BJP has won in Harayana and Maharashtra. The party will also win in Jharkhand, J&K, Bihar and Delhi. (
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"The victory of the BJP and Narendra Modi will be complete only after it forms government in Bengal," Mr Shah thundered. Responding to Ms Banerjee's jibe at him, Mr Shah said that a few days back Mamataji wanted to know who Amit Shah is. "Didi if you can hear and if you can see, please see that I am Amit Shah, a very small worker of BJP. I have come to Bengal to uproot corrupt TMC regime from the state."
"By pursuing vote bank politics and giving shelter to Bangladeshi infiltrators, by doing dramas and making emotional pitches, you can't fool the people of Bengal anymore. The youth of this state want employment as they too want to go ahead along with the rest of the country," Mr Shah said.
"Bengal needs a government which is patriotic, which doesn't save the culprits of the Burdwan blast, which does not indulge in corruption, rather puts the culprits behind bars," he added.
The BJP president hoped that within the next one-and-a-half years, Bengal will go along the path of change for the sake of development.
The BJP chief also ridiculed the protest by Trinamool MPs outside Parliament over the black money issue, saying, "What do TMC and Mamata Banerjee have to say about the money siphoned off in the Saradha scam? Was that black money or white money?"
Reacting to Mr Shah's allegations, the Trinamool Congress described the rally as "a grand flop show" with poor attendance.
"The rally was a grand flop show with poor attendance. The BJP tried to bring many leaders from north India, but failed to make it a success," Trinamool leader and state's Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
Trinamool Congress' secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said that despite its attack on Banerjee, BJP would not succeed in tarnishing her image and honesty.
"The whole world knows about her honesty and there can't be any doubt," he said.