'BJP played dirty politics, Bengal saved country today'
Calling the TMC’s win a “victory for the people” of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that she was proud to say that the people of her state have “saved the country”.
Banerjee is likely to return as the chief minister for a third consecutive term, with her party all set to win big in Bengal. The TMC is leading in over 200 seats now.
Speaking to the press in Kolkata, she said, “This is a victory for the people of Bengal. I am proud to say that Bengal saved the country. The Election Commission behaved badly with us — they behaved like BJP’s spokesperson. Two slogans — ‘Khela hobe’ and ‘Joy Bangla’ — worked well for us. Bengal won the match. We will distribute 50,000 footballs among clubs in rural Bengal.”
She added, “BJP played dirty politics and lost the election. The Election Commission behaved badly with us — they acted like BJP’s spokesperson.”
Speaking about Nandigram where she contested against her protégé-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, Banerjee said, “Don’t worry about Nandigram. For struggle you have to sacrifice something. I struggled for Nandigram because I fought a movement. It’s okay. Let the people give whatever verdict they want, I accept that. I don’t mind. We will review the results and go to court if required. I have information that after the declaration of results, there were some manipulations done and I will reveal those. But we won more than 221 seats and BJP has lost the election.”
The official figures for Nandigram are yet to come in, with the last update on the Election Commission website showing that Adhikari is leading by over 10,000 votes.
She also pointed out that combating Covid-19 will be the topmost priority of her government.
“Combating Covid-19 will be our topmost priority. The swearing-in will be a low-key event because of the prevailing situation. We will weather this storm. We will distribute free vaccines to everyone. Also request the Centre to distribute free vaccines to all. If this does not happen, I will sit on a dharna in front of the Gandhi Murti (in Kolkata),” Banerjee said.
She added, “We appeal to everyone not to do a victory rally now. But this will be after Covid is defeated. We will do a big victory rally at the Brigade Parade Ground later after the situation is normal.”
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and NCP leader Sharad Pawar are among those who have congratulated Banerjee for TMC’s performance.
Earlier in the day, Kailash Vijayvargiya credited Mamata Banerjee for the TMC’s astounding performance in Bengal elections, and said his party would introspect the poll results. Vijayvargiya, who is also the BJP’s Bengal minder, also said that he has received a call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who enquired about the party’s poor show.
The senior BJP leader stated that he was shocked to see BJP MPs Babul Supriyo and Locket Chatterjee trailing. “The TMC won because of Mamata Banerjee. It seems people have chosen Didi. We will introspect what went wrong — whether it was organisational issues, lack of face, insider-outsider debate. We will see what went wrong,” he said.
Source: The Indian Express
