BJP leadership in Bengal can never fight the TMC in Bengal: Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena is contesting Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal for the first time.

"Today we announced candidates for 11 seats. Within a few days we will declare candidates in four more seats. The BJP leadership in Bengal can never fight the TMC. That is why Shiv Sena has entered the fray," said the party's state general secretary Ashok Sarkar.

"All the tainted leaders of the TMC have joined the BJP making it an extended part of the ruling party," he claimed.

Several sitting MPs and an MLA of the TMC have joined the BJP in recent times.