If any Bengali has chance to be PM, it is Mamata Banerjee': WB BJP chief

Kolkata: West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh ruffled a few feathers within his party on Saturday when he said Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has the best chance to become the first Bengali prime minister of the country.

The statement has come as a shocker for the BJP, engaged in a bitter fight against the Trinamool in the state.

"We want her to be fit so that she can work well. She needs to remain fit because if there is any Bengali who has the chance to be the PM from this Bengal, then she is the one," he said while extending birthday wishes to her.

"I pray for her good health and success in life because the fate of our state depends on her success," Ghosh added.

Asked if anyone from BJP's Bengal unit had the chance to be the PM, Ghosh said that Mamata Banerjee was ahead in the race. "We can surely have one from Bengal after her. But she has the first chance. We couldn't have Jyoti Basu as the first Bengali prime minister as his party did not allow him to be," he said.

"We had Pranab Mukherjee from the state as the first Bengali to become President so now it''s time to have a Bengali as PM," Ghosh added.