Argus Update News 3pm
Kolkata/Bhubaneswar, Feb 12: Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has claimed that the BJP will get more than 200 seats in the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, and the victory will pave way for the saffron party to form Government in Odisha and four other States.
Addressing a public meeting in Kolkata on Thursday, Shah said, “People of the State want changes and Mamata Banerjee will not be the Chief Minister after May this year”.
The Union Home Minister also said that BJP's juggernaut cannot be stopped by any one.
“The development of eastern India will start from West Bengal. After winning the ensuing polls in the State, the BJP will win elections in Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and finally Kerala,” said Shah.
Notably, BJD and BJP had formed a coalition government in Odisha with Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister in 2000. Patnaik had fought three Lok Sabha polls in 1998, 1999 and 2004 and two Assembly elections in 2000 and 2004, with the Saffron party.
However, the two parties contested the polls separately in 2009, and the Patnaik-led BJD came to power on its own.
The regional party also won the 2014 and 2019 polls, while BJP came as the main opposition in the State in 2019.
