Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has called upon the party's workers and leaders to ensure that the TMC wins 40 of the total 42 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The party had bagged 22 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Had the TMC won 34-35 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government at the Centre would not have been able to increase prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas in such a way, claimed Banerjee, considered number 2 in the party.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah last month set a target for the BJP to win 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in next year's election and said the Mamata Banerjee government in the state won't survive beyond 2025 if the goal is achieved.

“Let us work towards the target of getting 40 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls. If we start working from now, if you can reach the people in a bigger way, if you highlight how despite winning polls BJP has done precious little for people's betterment, we can very well achieve that target,” Banerjee said.

The BJP now has 18 Lok Sabha MPs from West Bengal.

“Their (BJP’s) MPS haven't done anything to project the issues faced by people. They are only interested in building Ram temple and dividing people in the name of religion," the TMC’s Diamond Harbour MP claimed at a rally on Saturday night.

Since April 25, Banerjee is holding a mass outreach programme ahead of the panchayat election in the state. He started the campaign in Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state and it will be completed in South 24 Parganas district in the southern.

He alleged that the Congress and the CPIM will also not utter a single word against the BJP government as they have all ganged up to discredit the TMC administration as they have failed to defeat the state's ruling party.

Banerjee also said people will select the TMC candidates for the coming panchayat polls through a secret ballot system, and the party will nominate them.

"We have zero tolerance towards corruption and anyone found to be involved in graft will not get ticket," he asserted.

On Sunday, a large number of people took part in Banerjee’s road shows at Rejinagar and Naoda areas of Murshidabad district. He also interacted with young sportspersons at Beldanga as part of the public interaction programme. PTI SUS NN NN

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