Nadda lambasts Trinamool; says '130 BJP workers killed' at end of 1-day Bengal visit

Completing his 1-day Bardhaman visit in Bengal, BJP chief J P Nadda on Saturday, lashed out at the Mamata government saying over 130 BJP workers had lost their lives last year, due to 'political killings'. Lamenting the loss of almost 300 BJP workers till date, Nadda said that 6-7 BJP workers were killed in the past one month. This is Nadda's first visit to Bengal after his convoy was attacked by alleged TMC goons in December when he was on the way to Diamond Harbour area in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district from Kolkata.

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Nadda: '130 Bengal BJP workers killed'

"About 130 BJP officials lost their lives in Bengal. In all, 300 BJP supporters have lost their lives. About 6-7 of our workers have lost their lives in the last one month. This has been done due to political malice by TMC activists," said Nadda at a press conference. He also accused Mamata govt of not utilising the Centre's funds allocated to the state and not implementing Centre's schemes like PM-KISAN, Ayushman Bharat etc.

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Alleging that the West Bengal government has been politicized and politics has been criminalized. Stating that corruption has been institutionalised, Nadda has said that the BJP will cross 200 seats in the upcoming elections. Nadda has kicked off a campaign to hold 40,000 Gram Sabhas and collect a fistful rice from farmers, in a bid to conect with farmers amid the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders. In line with the campaign, Nadda along with Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh had lunch at a farmer's house in Jagadanandapur and held a massive roadshow in Bardhaman. Nadda has only recently recovered from Coronavirus, as he was infected after his first Bengal visit.

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BJP's Bengal push

The saffron party is gearing for a tough battle in Bengal - aiming to attain more than 200 seats, while not fielding a CM face yet. The BJP had already politically divided Bengal into five parts - North Bengal, Rath Bang (South Western District), Nabadwip, Medinipur and Kolkata, handpicking Shivprakash, Sunil Deodhar, Dushyant Gautam, Bhikubhai Dalsania, Ravindra Raju,  Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi to ta work on booth levels in these regions. With over 65,000 booth committees and 14,000 Shakti Kendra constituted, the BJP has appointed five veterans as central observers - with the final call to be taken by Amit Shah. Trinamool currently holds 222 seats in the 294-seat assembly. 

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