Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday challenged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to contest against him from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, stating he would retire from active politics if he lost.
Mr Banerjee, who is considered the number two in the TMC, also said that Shah has two other options to make him retire from politics.
"If you want Abhishek Banerjee to leave active politics, then I would like you to fulfil any of the three options I am providing you today. You release the state's dues of Rs 1,64,000 crore and I will retire within 24 hours. The second option is to release the funds of the PM Awas Yojana," Mr Banerjee said at an election rally for TMC's Mathurapur candidate Bapi Halder.
"The nomination for the Diamond Harbour constituency is yet to start. The third option: you (Mr Shah) contest from here and defeat me. I will leave politics forever," the party's national general secretary said.
Mr Shah is the Lok Sabha MP from the Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat.
Responding to the BJP leader's statement in Memari earlier in the day that TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee wanted him to be the next chief minister of West Bengal, Abhishek Banerjee said everyone is not like him (Mr Shah).
"You are in politics for your benefit. We do not do that. We are in politics to address the cause of the people," he said.
Describing BJP leaders as "outsiders" and "migratory birds", Mr Banerjee urged people not to vote for them.
Mr Banerjee also slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who also campaigned in West Bengal during the day, calling him the "biggest failure as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh".
"It was under his rule that brutal incidents such as Unnao, Hathras and Lakhimpur Kheri took place. Five farmers were mowed down by the son of Union minister Ajay Teni Mishra under Yogi Adityanath's government. We don't need to learn law and order from him," he said.
Without elaborating, Mr Banerjee asked the voters to wait for seven days after which they "will see how BJP has tried to malign Bengal in front of the entire country for their vested interest."
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