BJP predicts collapse of Mamata govt in coming months, TMC refuses to give importance
Kolkata, Jul 16: Stepping up the attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the BJP on Sunday said the collapse of the Mamata Banerjee government was just a matter of time.
Speaking at a party programme in his Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district, BJP MP Shantanu Thakur said the TMC government will not last beyond five months.
"The Mamata Banerjee government has outlived its utility. Had the TMC not resorted to widespread rigging in the recently concluded panchayat polls, the BJP would have bagged thousands of more seats. But this is going to be the last election under the supervision of TMC government where all the state machineries including the State Election Commission (SEC) have failed to play a neutral and impartial role," Thakur, the Union Minister of State for Shipping, said.
"I have a hunch that this government will not last beyond five months," he added.
Talking to reporters after attending an organisational meeting to take stock of the party's panchayat poll performance, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, "Anything can happen any time. Let's see what happens."
He added, "Who knows if there's a people's uprising against TMC's misrule and terror. Who knows if TMC MLAs suddenly refuse to follow Mamata Banerjee's way of functioning. I am not saying it will happen, it may not. But anything is possible in politics."
About his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on July 14, Majumdar said, "The Centre will do everything possible to protect the lives of innocent people in West Bengal."
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had earlier demanded imposition of Article 355 in West Bengal saying central intervention has become imperative in the state which had witnessed violence during panchayat polls.
He said, "Though a democratically elected government cannot be toppled, if it fails to perform its duty as envisaged in the Constitution, the Centre has to intervene to save it from slipping into lawlessness."
Reacting to the comments of BJP leaders, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Santanu Sen said, "All these BJP leaders, including Adhikari, are desperate to raise their ratings in Delhi by issuing threats to a government which came to power for the third time through a huge mandate two years ago and enjoys mass support."
He added, "If out of desperation the BJP tries any misadventure" after the drubbing in panchayat polls, the people of state will thwart it.
Sen said BJP leaders like Adhikari and Ghosh had made similar predictions about the collapse of TMC government in December and January and "even spelt out specific dates," but nothing happened.
TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said BJP leaders are making such claims "to boost the morale of their rank and file," who had been demoralised after the panchayat poll results.
"They (BJP leaders) are themselves aware about the absurdity of their claims," he added.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
