Excelsior Correspondent
KOLKATA, May 11 : Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said here today that BJP targets 35 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the ongoing general election.
In an elaborate interview to a News agency on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four neck-to-neck public rallies here tomorrow, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, only those who have followed the election of 2019 and the subsequent State Assembly election can sense on the ground the tremendous change that is being witnessed among the common masses. He said, in 2019 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, BJP had won 18, while TMC got 22 and 2 went to the Congress, but this time, the tables are going to turn. Like in earlier elections, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, this time also the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC party and its Government are trying all the pressure tactics to intimidate, threaten or lure the voters but they do not realise that now the voter has become much more resolute and determined than before.
The common voter of West Bengal now realises the disadvantage of not being a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Viksit Bharat Yatra” like the other States and he is in no mood to compromise on this even if he is constrained to adopt a defiant posture against the terror let loose by TMC workers and its leaders, said the Minister.
When asked about the 5th phase of Lok Sabha election which is a part of the Party’s assignment for Dr. Jitendra Singh, he said, last time out of these seven seats, the BJP was victorious on three seats and it lost the other four. However, he said, he was confident that this time we would win all the seven seats in phase 5 and seeing the kind of persistent hard work being put in by BJP Karyakartas, he was absolutely confident of winning, for sure, atleast six out of seven seats.
The Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the fifth phase include Howrah, Uluberia, Hooghly, Serampore, Arambagh, Barrackpore and Bangaon. Out of these seven seats going to polls in the fifth phase, BJP had in 2019 registered victory in Bangaon, Barrackpore and Hooghly but lost the other four seats.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, there is not only enthusiasm seen among the voters in support of Prime Minister Modi but the perception of the media and the critics is also different this time. While in the earlier two elections, common perception was that polls were going the TMC way, this time the common perception and impression is that everything is going the Modi way, he said.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, there is much expectation from the young voters, particularly the first time voters, who have a great stake for their future in supporting Modi and his youth-friendly initiatives. He said, it is an irony that for the last several decades, there has not been a single big Industrial Unit or multinational establishment set up in West Bengal which is an apology for the region and its people about whom once upon a time it was said that Bengalis are always one step ahead of the other States, but today it is the other way now where the other States have moved on while the State of West Bengal is still struggling with the contradictions of its self-righteous political parties and their leaders.
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