Amit Shah has plans to form BJP govts in Nepal, Sri Lanka: Tripura CM Biplab Deb

New Delhi, Feb 15: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb has kicked up a fresh controversy after he said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not only planned to expand across the country but also in neighbouring nations like Nepal and Sri Lanka.

At a BJP event in Agartala, Deb claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah has plans to set up BJP governments in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

"We were talking in the state guest house when Ajay Jamwal (northeast zonal secretary of BJP) said that BJP had formed its government in several states of India. In reply, Shah said that now Sri Lanka and Nepal are left. We have to expand the party in Sri Lanka, Nepal and win there to form a government," NDTV report said.

Deb also said people of West Bengal would bid goodbye to TMC leader Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming elections, and that "lotus will bloom" across the country, including in Tamil Nadu.

Biplab, who was considered a greenhorn in state politics at the time of his return in Tripura in 2015 has courted controversies on several occasions.

Deb had apologised for his statements comparing Punjabis and Jats with Bengalis, and said he did not intend to hurt sentiments.

Deb had stirred a controversy by saying Punjabis and Jats are physically strong but less brainy while Bengalis are known to be very intelligent.

In 2018, he said Internet and satellite television existed in the time of the Mahabharata.

He had questioned the crowning of Diana Hayden as "Miss World" in 1997 and alleged that international beauty pageants were a farce.

Last year, he claimed that Mughals intended to destroy the cultural wonders of the state by "bombing" its arts and architectures.