Bengal
BJP must win all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal: PM Modi
Kolkata/IBNS: In a new goal set for his party cadres, workers and leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must win all 42 seats which are up for grabs in West Bengal.
Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar which falls in Nadia district, Modi said, "This is the time for an unprecedented change, which must start from this Lok Sabha elections. The country will develop only when Bengal is developed. So BJP must win all 42 seats in the Lok Sabha polls."
Modi's new goal comes months after Union Home Minister and BJP top leader Amit Shah set a goal of winning 35 of 42 seats for the state unit.
West Bengal, which provided 18 Lok Sabha seats to BJP in its best ever performance in the state in 2019, has the third highest number of Lok Sabha seats following Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Modi, who remained mum on TMC's expelled Krishnanagar Lok Sabha candidate Mahua Moitra, trained his guns at the ruling party over the alleged corruption.
The Prime Minister, who finished his two-day Bengal visit on Saturday, said, "In MGNREGA, 25 lakh fake job cards were made. Even people, who were not born, were registered. TMC looted the money, which was meant for poor workers."
"TMC always intends to use its own name in central schemes. It has a mastery in turning a scheme into a scam. The TMC government has defamed Bengal," he added.
Countering the Prime Minister's claims, state minister Shashi Panja, said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the people of Krishnanagar with certain false facts. Unfortunate.
"You have deprived 59 lakh beneficiaries in Bengal from MGNREGA wages and that is the truth. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is paying them their money while the Prime Minister has deprived them."
"UP had the highest fake job cards but the state was not deprived because a BJP government is in power there," the TMC leader added.
In the run up to the elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the state government will clear the dues of the MGNREGA scheme in the state.
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