Kolkata, April 24 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took a jibe at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, terming his statement attributing the Trinamool Congress government’s “corruption” for the BJP’s rising chances in the West Bengal Assembly polls, a “late realisation”.

“It has been realised very late,” Shah told IANS in reaction to Gandhi, who in a video message on X, had said: “If Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had run a clean government and had not polarised Bengal, then the BJP would not have got a chance.”

HM Shah, who took part in a roadshow ahead of the second phase of polling in the state, also expressed confidence that the LoP in the Assembly and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari will win with a “large majority” against Chief Minister Banerjee in the Bhabanipur constituency.

According to HM Shah, the wave against Trinamool supremo and CM Banerjee has “almost doubled” from what it was during the 2021 Assembly polls.

Exhibiting confidence in the BJP’s victory in the elections, he said: “This time we are moving towards forming the government with a massive majority.”

Previously, Amit Shah, in a post on X, had warned the “goons” of the Trinamool not to disrupt the electoral process.

“I tell the goons, don’t come out in the second phase either, or else I’ll hang you upside down and straighten you out.”

In his remarks on the day’s biggest political earthquake – the mass quitting of AAP Rajya Sabha members, led by recently-removed Deputy Leader Raghav Chadha, Amit Shah said that the decision taken by AAP MPs to part ways with their party is based on several reasons cited by them.

HM Shah’s remarks during an election rally in West Bengal coincided with Chadha announcing a divorce with the AAP and leading a three-member party Rajya Sabha MPs’ team to meet BJP National President Nitin Nabin at the party headquarters here.

Chadha had cited the AAP “stepping away from honest politics” as a key reason behind the decision by him and six other AAP MPs from Rajya Sabha to merge their parliamentary faction with the BJP. The AAP has 10 MPs in the Upper House.

–IANS

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