Sandeshkhali arms recovery: Will Mamata Banerjee win polls by threatening people, asks Nadda

New Delhi: BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday asked if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wants to win the Lok Sabha elections by scaring and threatening people as he hit out at her government over the seizure of arms and ammunition by the CBI in Sandeshkhali.

In a statement, he expressed confidence that the BJP will win over 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and conveyed his party's solidarity with the Sandeshkhali women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by former Trinamool Congress strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his associates.

Sheikh, now suspended from the TMC, is in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody and is also accused of land grab by locals.

The CBI on Friday seized arms and ammunition, including a police service revolver and foreign-made firearms, during searches at two premises of an associate of Sheikh.

The searches were conducted in connection with the January attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team by a mob that was allegedly instigated by Sheikh.

Hitting out at the state government, Nadda said, "Will Mamata Banerjee win the polls by scaring and threatening people? It is a grave mistake if she thinks she can win elections by this." People will teach her a lesson, he said.

By fielding a Sandeshkhali victim as one of its Lok Sabha candidates, the BJP has affirmed its support to women empowerment, Nadda claimed.

He said Sandeshkhali victims are not alone and the entire country stands with them.

Banerjee on Saturday said there was "no evidence" of recovery of arms and ammunition in Sandeshkhali and claimed that CBI teams conducted searches without keeping the state police in the loop.

Expressing scepticism regarding the operations, Banerjee said the recovered items "might have been brought by officials of the central agency".

The BJP had won 18 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 polls and has been pulling out all the stops to improve its tally there.