KOLKATA: While Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, also a key face of INDIA bloc to fight against the BJP in next year’s Lok Sabha polls, and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee preferred to maintain silence over the stupendous victory of the saffron camp in three states’ by wresting Rajasthan from the Congress, Kunal Ghosh, the spokesperson of Bengal’s ruling party said it was the grand old party’s failure, not the BJP’s success. Congress is also one of the partners of the INDIA bloc.
"The results of Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan do not reflect BJP’s victory. Rather, it shows how the Congress has failed in the electoral exercise,” said Ghosh.
Describing BJP’s performance in the three states, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari as “The Modi Magic”. “Saffron Greetings to the Man of the Moment., the Legend and the Magician; Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji for the Saffron Surge in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Chattisgarh. Heartiest Congratulations to Shri @AmitShah ji, Shri @ JP Nadda ji & all the Leaders & karyakartas of @BJP4MP, BJP4Rajasthan & @BJP4CGState for the huge victory in the Assembly elections,” Adhikari wrote on his X handle.
The BJP MLAS, who defeated Mamata in Nandigram constituency in the 2021 high-octane Bengal Assembly polls, said the TMC-led government would not last till 2026, the year scheduled for the electoral exercise that the TMC will face after the completion of its third straight-term regime after derailing Left Front’s 34-year regime. He, however, did not clear how the TMC’s government would be toppled before its scheduled term.
Ghosh’s statement castigating the Congress is not the first time the TMC lashed out at the grand old party. Both Mamata and her nephew Abhishek hit out at the Congress during campaign in elections in Goa that the party was talking about leading the opposition’s alliance when it failed to retain its elected representatives from defection to the BJP.
Political observers in Bengal said BJP’s performance in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan would have an impact in Bengal politics as months are left for the general elections in next year. “The saffron camp made deep inroads in Bengal by bagging 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in 2019 and the party’s stupendous victory will definitely help it to perform impressively in the state. Though it did not perform well in the 2021 Assembly elections against the target set by the high command, but it seems the party’s performance in this year’s elections will boost up its workers and functionaries in Bengal,” said Bishnupriya Dutta Gupta, a professor of political science.