Putting up a brave front in the face of a virtual exodus of Trinamool leaders to the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Hooghly on Monday that the party “did not need those leaders,” adding that Trinamool would, anyway, not have given them poll tickets.

“Those who are lining up to leave Trinamool Congress (TMC) should leave as early as possible. Bengal and TMC don’t need you. TMC would have not given them tickets so they are leaving in fear,” Banerjee said at a poll rally in Pursura, Hooghly, reports ANI.

Elections are due in West Bengal in April-May and the state is already in the throes of a full-fledged election campaign, complete with sledging, rallies, roadshows and poster wars.

In a pointed attack on the saffron party, the two-time Chief Minister of West Bengal said, “the BJP should be rechristened ‘Bharat Jalao Party'”, reports PTI. Several prominent leaders, including ministers have in the past two months abandoned the Trinamool and joined the BJP. Prominent among them being Suvendu Adhikari, Arindam Bhattacharya and several other MLAs.

Still smarting under the alleged ‘insult’ at a function where PM Modi was also present, Mamata Banerjee said, “BJP insulted Bengali icons in the past, continues to do so… I had to face taunts, insult in the presence of PM Modi at the Victoria Memorial event,” Banerjee said.

The two parties are engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in the state going to polls in April this year. The BJP is making aggressive inroads in the state ruled by Mamata Banerjee for the past 10 years. The saffron party’s vote share went up from 17% in 2014 Lok Sabha elections to 40% in 2019 and the number of seats grew from 2 to 18.