KOLKATA: With Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde cementing his grip on power five days after assuming office with BJP's support, ousting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, senior West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday hinted that opposition-ruled states such as Rajasthan and Jharkhand are next on the cards.
He also exuded confidence that his party will form the next government in West Bengal with more than 200 seats in the 294-member House.
"You all have seen what has happened in Maharashtra. It will not be the last. A similar thing will happen in Jharkhand; we will change the government soon. Rajasthan too would meet the same fate; we will win the assembly polls there when it is held next year," Adhikari said while addressing a rally at Katwa in Purba Bardhaman district.
The Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal wondered what was in store for the TMC government in the state.
"Let's see what's in store for West Bengal. Nothing will go unaccounted for. We all know the atrocities the BJP workers have faced in the state. Have faith in yourselves; we would form the next government with more than 200 seats in the state," he said.
Adhikari had recently said the TMC-led dispensation in West Bengal, too, will meet a similar fate just like in Maharashtra, and much before its tenure ends.
His comments had then drawn sharp criticism from the TMC, which accused the BJP of engineering the rebellion in Shiv Sena.
Speaking on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks that opposition parties might have considered backing NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader of the saffron party from Odisha, had the BJP discussed with them before fielding her, Adhikari said the TMC supremo is trying to make a volte-face sensing the imminent defeat of opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
"This is nothing new; in 2012, too, she had done a similar thing when Pranab Mukherjee was UPA's presidential candidate.
Despite being a partner in the UPA government, she had initially declined to support him but later made a U-turn and extended her support after the names she had proposed had declined to contest.
This time too, after sensing defeat of her candidate, she is trying to make a U-turn," he said.
Hitting out at Adhikari, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the BJP is yet to come to terms with last year's Assembly poll defeat and seems ready to go to any extent to seize power.
"Despite a high-pitched poll campaign, the BJP lost miserably in the elections. Now, they want to capture power by hook or crook. The comment proves how BJP was behind the political crisis in the western state," he said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday comfortably won a crucial confidence vote in the state assembly, cementing his grip on power five days after assuming office with the BJP support following a revolt in the Shiv Sena.
He said the rebellion led by him last month was a fallout of the "unfair treatment" meted out to him, an apparent reference to his decades-old association with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday described the new Maharashtra government led by Eknath Shinde as "unethical and undemocratic" and claimed it will fall soon as it has "failed to win people's hearts".
Taking a dig at BJP, she alleged it has misused the power of money and muscle, and central agencies to topple an elected government in Maharashtra.
The Trinamool Congress supremo alleged that the Shiv Sena MLAs were flown to Assam and "supplied not only money but also many other things".
She, however, did not elaborate on her accusations.
"I believe this (Maharashtra) government will not continue as the BJP has misused its power. It's an unethical and undemocratic government. They might have formed the government, but they have not won the hearts of the people," Banerjee said while speaking at a conclave organised by a television channel.
The speech was broadcast live on the CM's Facebook page.
"I have seen so many governments, but never seen such a vindictive one (the BJP-ruled Centre). When there was an elected government (in Maharashtra), why did the BJP topple it with power of money, muscle and using ED, CBI?" she said.
"Where did you get the money to provide such luxurious life to the Maharashtra MLAs in Assam? How many things were supplied to them, not only money. Just go and find out. I know. But sometimes silence is golden. I know what they can do. I cannot give the details," she said.
Banerjee also said in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, common people of the country will "bulldoze the BJP".
"In the 2024 polls, people will vote not to elect but to protest. It will be an election to reject the BJP. The people will be bulldozer for you (BJP). You can bulldoze the people with your forceful misuse of power, you can bulldoze democracy. But in the next election, it will be the people of the country versus BJP. The common man will bulldoze the BJP in a democratic manner," she said.
On Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion that BJP will end "dynastic rule" in Telangana and West Bengal, Banerjee, in an apparent reference to Shah's son Jay Shah becoming the BCCI secretary, said, "When someone becomes BCCI's top boss, there is no talk of dynastic politics. It's only mentioned while referring to people fighting on the grassroots level. In all the sports, you have taken over all the top posts."
While referring to her nephew and party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, she said there is no harm in bringing the next generation into politics as they will run the country in the future.
"What is the harm? People have elected him (Abhishek) twice. Don't you want the young generation to take up the reigns of the country? In the Banerjee family, everybody is in politics but nobody holds any position. There are so many families in this country (who are in politics)," she said.
Banerjee rubbished allegations of post-poll violence in West Bengal, and claimed that no such incident had happened in the state after assembly elections last year.
"Nothing had happened. Twenty-one people had died before the assembly elections when President's Rule was imposed in the state under the EC. Four people were shot dead by the BSF. And 16 of the deceased were TMC supporters."
"If there is any report of poll violence in West Bengal, Centre sends all human rights commissions but when there is violence in BJP-ruled Tripura before and after polls, no questions are raised," she said.
She alleged that the Centre only encourages "BJP-minded people" to invest in the country.
"The Modi government only encourages investment from BJP-minded people, with whom they keep money and from where they get money. That is the basic difference between us and them -- our interest is to build industry wherever there is opportunity. More than 1 lakh industrialists have left the country. It's a shame," Banerjee said.
On Banerjee's government seeking investment from industrialists such as Adani and Ambani, she said, "Politics and industry are different. If we want to grow, we have to divide the fruit for all. Adani Group is building a data bank and Mukesh Ambani's group a cable landing station here. There is opportunity from every corner."