West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded that Amit Shah resign as Union Home Minister over his comments at a political rally in Suri in Birbhum district. At a rally last week, Shah had said that the Trinamool Congress government would collapse before 2025 if the BJP wins 35 of the state’s 42 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. home Minister? This means that the Home Minister is conspiring to topple an elected state government. As a Union Home Minister, he has taken an oath to protect the Indian Constitution. So, he can never say that if BJP gets 35 seats in the Lok Sabha in the assembly elections, the present state government will fall before the end of its tenure. Therefore, we are demanding his resignation as the Union Home Minister,” the chief minister said while addressing media persons here.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister also expressed doubts about the “real story” behind the February 2019 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) policemen were killed. The chief minister said, “My question is whether even a single central probe team went to Pulwama after that incident. We demand a proper probe into this matter as well.” He also alleged that the central government was sending one central field inspection team after another to West Bengal to stall development projects initiated by the state government. “Anyway, the central government has stopped payment of all dues to the state government under various centrally sponsored schemes. Now they have started adopting the strategy of sending central inspection teams,” the chief minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, he also said that the arrest of Trinamool Congress MLAs in connection with a multi-crore scam in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal is a ploy to reduce his party’s strength within the assembly. The chief minister said, “The central agencies are only targeting our MLAs. They are not targeting any BJP MLA. But they will not succeed in this ploy, as our numbers in the assembly are so high.” Speaking on the occasion, Mamata Banerjee once again called upon all non-BJP parties to unite ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “If the opposition unites, the BJP will not be able to regain power in the general elections,” he said.