Howrah (West Bengal), April 14 (IANS): Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in West Bengal "with a clear majority" in the next assembly polls.

"BJP will form the government in Bengal with a clear majority, just as we saw in Assam and in Haryana where, once upon a time, only one or two of our MLAs used to be elected. In the forthcoming assembly polls in the state, the BJP will win with a clear majority," Bharti said on arrival at the Howrah railway station.

Bharti's comments come in the wake of her party finishing second in the by-poll to Kanthi Dakshin assembly constituency in Purba Medinipur district.

State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress retained the seat with the BJP pushing the Left Front candidate to the third position.

Banerjee, has, however, accused opposition parties in Bengal of transferring votes to one another and said she was least bothered about who emerged as her party's principal opposition.

The Bengal assembly polls are scheduled to be held in 2019.