West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the state government would initiate legal action against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for what she described as “violent and inappropriate comments” against TMC workers.Addressing a public meeting in Hooghly, Banerjee said a person holding a constitutional post such as the Home Minister could not make statements that could be interpreted as provocative or inflammatory and termed it a “crime”. She added that such remarks were unacceptable and warranted legal scrutiny.Notably, during an election rally, Shah had warned alleged “goons of the TMC” to remain indoors on polling days and said that after May 5, strict action would be taken against those involved in violence, using the phrase that they would be “hung upside down” to “set them straight”.Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed that the first phase of voting had decisively tilted the momentum in its favour, projecting a sweeping lead and a fourth consecutive term under Banerjee.Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, TMC leaders Kunal Ghosh and Lalitesh Tripathi asserted that the BJP’s “ground is weakening” in the state, even as sharp political exchanges over “infiltrators”, voter list deletions and alleged central mismanagement escalated campaign rhetoric.According to Ghosh, out of the 152 constituencies that went to the polls in Phase I, the party expected to secure between 125 and 135 seats, along with an increase in vote share and wider victory margins. He described the outcome as a “clear mandate building process”, claiming that the BJP’s position in Bengal had been “badly damaged” and that its organisational presence on the ground remained weak in several constituencies.Ghosh also attacked the BJP and the Centre, referring to statements made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding voter list revisions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. He criticised the alleged deletion of names, stressing that legitimate voters were being wrongly labelled as “infiltrators” or “ghuspaithia”. He questioned whose interests were being served by such exclusions, framing the issue as one of disenfranchisement and political targeting.Meanwhile, Tripathi took aim at Amit Shah, accusing the BJP of failing to effectively address illegal infiltration issues in border states despite years in power, while simultaneously using the issue as a political narrative in Bengal. He also slammed the BJP’s alleged remarks about Kolkata, calling such statements an insult to the state’s cultural identity and asserting that voters would respond firmly in the upcoming phases.Tripathi alleged that the BJP had deliberately avoided projecting a Chief Ministerial face in Bengal because it “lacks a credible leader with even basic social standing” in the state.