Mamata Banerjee: TMC can fight alone “unholy alliance” of BJP, Congress, CPIM

By Syeda Shabana Parveen
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 2 (ANI): As the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost the Sagardighi bypolls in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the results unearthed the "unholy alliance" of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and CPI(M) adding that TMC can alone fight the three forces.
Congress candidate Bayron Biswas won the Sagardighi bypolls by a margin of 22,986.
In her reply to ANI over the setback in Sagardighi Assembly bye-election, the Trinamool supremo said there was an "unholy" alliance.
She said, "We have lost the Sagardighi bypolls, but I do not blame anyone for the defeat. In democratic elections, there can be some minus and plus. However, there is an 'unholy alliance' between the Congress, Left and BJP, which we strongly condemn."
Banerjee said BJP vote share was shifted to the Congress and Left in the combine.
West Bengal CM said Congress and Left parties should not call themselves anti-BJP claiming that Congress and CPI(M) took BJP's help to defeat TMC.
"I want to ask them, why are you doing these alliances silently? I would like to congratulate Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. He has already mentioned that BJP and CPI(M) are helping Congress. I would like to thank him for telling the truth that Congress has done a 'setting' with BJP If there are unholy alliances, how will Congress fight with BJP? How will the Left fight the BJP? If they want to defeat Mamata Banerjee with the help of the BJP, then how are they claiming to be anti-BJP?"
CM Mamata Banerjee further added all three (BJP, Congress, CPIM) played the communal card in Sagardighi.
"This is unfortunate but it is also a lesson for us that we should not listen to CPI(M) or Congress. The ones that work with BJP, we cannot ally with them. I do not blame the people for Trinamool's loss, I blame the use of communal card. I blame 'hate politics', and I blame the 'unholy alliance'," she said.
Banerjee said TMC can alone fight these three forces together.
"We have done that in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, we will do it again. There is no need to worry as we will work even harder now. What our government has been doing for its people, no other government in the world can show these results," she added.
"There was some confusion in Meghalaya. People thought that Mamata Banerjee is also in Congress since both parties have 'Congress' name in common. Earlier, I was in the Congress. So, the people must have seen my pictures, but we will work to fix this confusion," CM Banerjee said in her reply to ANI regarding the poll results of three northeastern states.
In Nagaland, regional parties have emerged victorious. "I want to tell BJP that it is not their victory," she said.
According to the Election Commission of India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.
Notably, TMC could not open its account in Tripura.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.
Chief Minister Manik Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes. In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 31.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.
The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.
The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but now both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power.
In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats. National People's Party (NPP) won five seats. Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat.
The majority mark in 60 seat Nagaland Assembly is 31.
In Meghalaya, the National People's Party (NPP) won 26 seats, United Democratic Party (UDP) bagged 11 seats and Trinamool Congress got five seats. BJP, People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party bagged two seats each. Congress managed to get five seats while the Voice of the People Party got four seats. Two seats were won by independent candidates. (ANI)