West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday claimed that the BJP would have the support of 275 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly if a floor test were held, including 64 elected on Trinamool Congress tickets.
“Let there be a floor test in the Assembly tomorrow. Our numbers would reach 275,” he told reporters while visiting the home of a victim of the Chorbagan stampede, according to PTI.
Nineteen people were killed and 25 injured in the stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on October 17.
Adhikari said the BJP’s election victory reflected public support rather than its presence on social media or television.
“The BJP did not win because of social media or television talk shows. I defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur. BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh did not win because of social media. Ours is a Sanatani government elected by the people,” he said.
Attacking the previous Left Front and TMC governments, he said, “The dirt accumulated over the last 49 years is being cleaned up by our government over the past six months.”
He also claimed that the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress lacked public support and would “end up losing its identity, numbers and flag”.
The BJP won 208 seats in the April Assembly elections, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule. The TMC won 80 seats.
The opposition party split after the polls, with a faction led by Arup Roy and Ritabrata Banerjee staking claim to its name and “two flowers and grass” symbol. Ritabrata became leader of the Opposition after more than two-thirds of the elected TMC MLAs backed him.
The Election Commission allotted the rebel faction the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress”, while Banerjee’s faction was named the “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress”.
A majority of the TMC’s Lok Sabha MPs later merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and extended support to the NDA.
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