Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the BJP has targeted to win 35 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP leader said only those who have followed the 2019 general elections and the subsequent state assembly polls can sense on the ground the tremendous change that is being witnessed among the common masses in the state.

Singh, the minister of state for personnel, said that the BJP had won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, while the TMC got 22 and two went to the Congress, but "the tables are going to turn" this time.

"BJP has targeted to win 35 out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in the ongoing general elections," he told PTI.

Like in the earlier elections, Singh claimed that this time also the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) 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.

He said 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 the TMC workers and its leaders.

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, the common perception was that the polls were going the TMC way, this time the common perception and impression is that everything is going the Modi way," he said.

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.

The minister 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 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," he said.

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