KOLKATA: Despite a historic victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee remained stoic on Friday.
Mamata remarked, “Some are asking me why I am not smiling. It’s for the masses to smile as it is their victory and that is my laughter. We contested without any alliance and achieved a win unlike any in the last 49 years.”
“Our accountability and responsibilities have increased. I appeal to all to maintain peace and discipline. There will be no victory procession, but cultural celebrations for the next week. The swearing-in ceremony will be held on May 27 since it’s Jummabar (Friday),” she announced. At variance with tradition, the swearing-in ceremony of State Ministers will be held at the Red Road and not the Raj Bhavan. Of the 294 Assembly seats, the TMC won 212; Congress, 44; left front, 32; and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha three.
“I received telephone calls and messages from Modiji, Arun Jaitley and Suresh Prabhu with whom I have good personal relations. However, I have ideological differences with the BJP and can never align with it,” she said. The Prime Minister was quick to wish luck to the mercurial leader on her victory, tweeting, “I congratulate and my best wishes to Mamata Banerjee for beginning her second innings.”
The TMC’s largest gain was in north Bengal — where voters had until now vacillated between the Congress and the left — winning 30 of the 76 Assembly seats of the region. It was only in Darjeeling that the Trinamool fared poorly, losing six seats to the GJM and the Left-Congress alliance, which won three seats each.
The TMC registered a clean sweep in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri of north Bengal, though it fared badly in Malda and Murshidabad. It also clinched a spectacular victory in the metropolis, bagging all 11 seats, contrary to predictions following the Narada sting operation, in which many of its nominees were seen accepting bribes. In the adjoining districts of Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, the Trinamool retained its support winning more than 90 per cent of the seats. However, the party lost in Jungalmahal to the left-Congress alliance. The victory seemed to be a personal one for Mamata, who had earlier said, “I am the candidate for all the 294 seats. Vote for me irrespective of the party nominee.” Several victorious TMC candidates said, “This not our win, but that of our leader Didi.”
However, eight of the party’s heavyweights, Monish Gupta, Chondrima Bhattacharya, Sabitri Mitra, Krishnendu Chowdhury, Abdul Karim Chowdhury, Shankar Chakraborty, Upen Biswas, Shyamapada Mukherjee and former jailed Transport Minister Madan Mitra lost.
Also, the victory margins of most of the ministers, including Mamata herself, have reduced.
While the CPM-led left front suffered a drubbing, managing to win only 36 seats though polling 25.2 per cent votes, the Congress marked significant progress, bagging 44 seats despite obtaining just 12 per cent of the votes polled.
Interestingly, 1.5 per cent of the State’s voters (around 8.30 lakh) opted for NOTA.
Some are asking me why I am not smiling. It’s for the masses to smile as it is their victory and that is my laughter. We contested without any alliance and achieved a win unlike any in the last 49 years
Mamata Banerjee, TMC chief
‘Left lost character, Cong blundered’
Kolkata: TMC chief Mamata Banerjee took a dig at the CPM, accusing it of having compromised on its ideology and “lost character”. “The CPM committed the biggest blunder by compromising on its ideology. If you lose character, you lose everything. Ask Karat (former CPM general secretary) why he couldn’t do in Bengal what he did in Kerala,” she said. “The Congress committed another blunder by aligning with the CPM and has now been wiped out from Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” she said, coming down heavily on the grand old party.