KOLKATA, April 20 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stepped up attacks on the Trinamool Congress (TMC), asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in West Bengal, as campaigning intensified in the state days ahead of the first phase of polling on April 23.

Addressing four rallies across tribal belts in Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, and West Midnapore's Belda, Modi said the BJP will come to power in the state after the two-phase elections. "I am speaking from political experience. I have felt the zeal in people. It is certain that BJP will form the government. Several districts will no longer have TMC MLAs," he said at his fourth rally in Belda.

Modi framed the election as a wider battle over Bengal's ...