KOLKATA: A day ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's proposed visit to Bengal, the faction-ridden state BJP unit on Wednesday put up a united face as its top guns came together on one platform and called for the ouster of the Mamata Banerjee government.
The programme at Rani Rashmoni Road, organised in memory of the victims of last year's post-poll violence, is a part of the week-long events planned by the party, coinciding them with the TMC's one year completion of its third term in office.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar was seen sharing the stage with the party's national vice-president and his predecessor Dilip Ghosh, days after the two engaged in a war of words over the need for experience to run the saffron camp in Bengal.
Leader of the opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MPs Locket Chatterjee and Arjun Singh and state general secretary Agnimitra Paul were among others who were present at the event.
Referring to a recent social media post by TMC leaders Kunal Ghosh and Aparupa Poddar, where they made a pitch for national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee as future chief minister, Ghosh said, "Just like us, the ruling camp's members, too, seek the removal of Mamata Banerjee."
Urging supporters to work with similar gusto during the upcoming panchayat polls as they did in the assembly elections, Ghosh said around 7,000 BJP nominees had emerged victorious in the last panchayat elections in 2018, despite violence and attacks.
Majumdar, addressing the party workers, stated that the BJP would continue to fight against the "autocratic rule" of the TMC.
Shah is scheduled to visit Bengal for two days starting May 5.
Adhikari claimed that the TMC "gained power by climbing a ladder made with corpses of opposition workers".
"If the TMC thinks it will go unpunished for the crimes they have committed against humanity, the party is living in a fool's paradise. The law will take its own course," he added.
The ruling party, meanwhile, slammed the BJP for trying to "destabilise peace" in the state.
"The BJP is trying to disturb the peace and stability of the state. People of the state have rejected the party but they have no shame," TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
The TMC had registered a landslide victory in last year's assembly polls, bagging 213 seats in the 294-member Assembly, leaving the BJP with 77 seats.
The Left Front failed to open its account.
In the subsequent months, however, the saffron party lost some ground to the Left during the by-polls and the municipal elections.