“40 Trinamool Congress MLAs” would join the BJP (BJP): Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed at a rally in Hooghly district on Monday that “40 Trinamool Congress MLAs” would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha election.

The Trinamool accused Mr. Modi of “horse trading”, and said it was taking the issue to the Election Commission.

Mr. Modi said the land under West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s feet is slipping and that her MLAs are keen on joining the BJP.

He was addressing an election rally in Hooghly district.

“When the results come out on [May] 23, the lotus will start blooming and your MLAs will start leaving you. As of now, 40 of your MLAs are in touch with me. It is difficult for you to survive as you have betrayed the people of Bengal,” Mr. Modi said.

Target each other

Both Mr. Modi and Ms. Banerjee targeted each other on the issue of citizenship and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

While Mr. Modi insisted on delivering proper citizenship to deliver welfare benefits, Ms. Banerjee pointed out that the same process had rendered 40 lakh homeless in Assam of which “22 lakh are Hindu Bengalis.”

Mr. Modi partly used Ms. Banerjee’s 2001 slogan on Monday. Her popular slogan was to vote ‘silently’ for Trinamool’s “flower symbol” Chupchap/Phool-ey Chap.Mr. Modi said: Chupchap/Kamal-ey chap, to vote for lotus silently.

BJP charge

Accusing Trinamool Congress workers of “hijacking democracy” amid reports of violence during polling in West Bengal, the BJP moved the Election Commission in New Delhi, reiterating its demand for deployment of Central forces.

A delegation of BJP leaders, including Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Vijay Goel, submitted a memorandum to the EC seeking action against the Trinamool.

Earlier, the BJP had sought the declaration of all polling booths in West Bengal as sensitive and the deployment of Central forces.

After their meeting with the EC, Mr. Naqvi told reporters that the leaders had raised the issue of Trinamool workers “hijacking democracy”, as well as model code of conduct violations by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.