West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described the victory of the Congress at Sagardighi bye-elections as "immoral", alleging that the grand old party, besides the CPI(M), had entered into an understanding with the BJP to defeat the Trinamool Congress.
Addressing a press meet, Banerjee said that her party will go alone in the 2024 elections, "with the support of common people". "In the 2024 elections, the TMC will fight it alone. We will fight with people's support. I believe those who want to defeat the BJP will certainly vote for the TMC," she added.
"For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone. Sometimes, in a democracy, developments may usually be positive or negative. But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress," Banerjee told reporters here.
"(In Sagardighi), everyone played the communal card. The BJP, of course, played the communal card. The Congress, CPI(M), however, turned out to be bigger players in this regard,” she stated.
The Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Bengal’s Murshidabad district had Left-backed Congress candidate Bayron Biswas receiving over 47 per cent votes. The BJP’s Dilip Saha got nearly 14 per cent votes, and the Trinamool’s Debashish Banerjee received around 35 per cent votes. The seat, won by the Trinamool in the last three elections held in 2011, 2016, and 2021 was vacated when the sitting-MLA passed away last December. The victory for Congress, gets the party its first MLA in the state Assembly during the current tenure.
The TMC supremo claimed that the Congress, after having sought the "saffron camp’s help", should refrain from calling itself anti-BJP.
On forming alliances against the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee said, “The alliance will be between the Trinamool Congress and the people. We will not go with any of them (Congress, CPIM). We will fight on our own with people’s support. Those who wish to defeat the BJP will vote for us, I believe, and those who vote for Congress-CPI(M), will vote for the BJP,” she said. The ‘truth’, she said, was revealed by the bye-election result.
When told that it’s being projected that the Congress-CPI (M) alliance may dominate the political space in future, Banerjee said that even in 2021 (assembly elections) the two parties had an alliance. The Trinamool chief alleged that then the parties had their votes ‘transferred’ to the BJP, and in the present bye-election the opposite has happened.
Banerjee cautioned that in days to come the Trinamool will eliminate the drama of Congress-CPI(M)-BJP (combine). The pretension – she referred – allegedly is political in nature. “We will definitely finish it off. It’s our challenge. BJP cannot touch Trinamool Congress,” she said.
Banerjee congratulated the people of Meghalaya, saying that her party entered the state six months ago but secured 15 per cent votes. This will help the party in terms of having the status of a national party, adding that the next time the performance will be better. “There was some confusion in Meghalaya. People thought that Mamata Banerjee is 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,” she said.