Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her satisfaction with the BJP not getting a simple majority in the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday and called for the resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah on moral grounds.
“Modi did not get the single largest majority, he should resign, and so should Amit Shah on moral grounds after today’s results,” Mamata said in an address to the media. “Now they have to beg the Telugu Desam party and Nitish Kumar to form the government. I know them very well. They won’t break India.”
The Bengal chief minister has deputed Trinamul general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to attend the opposition INDIA bloc meeting acheduled for Wednesday.
Of the 42 seats in Bengal, according to the Election Commission, till the time of reporting, the Trinamul is looking to win 29 seats (3 wins, 26 leads), while the BJP was leading in 12 and the Congress in one.
“India has won and Modi has lost. They have lost in Ayodhya too. His (Modi’s) margin has come down. Pride is not good for anyone. I want to bow my head before the people. It is the people’s credit,” said Mamata.
While extending her support for the INDIA bloc, Mamata spke of a wishlist. "I don’t want anything. The states should get the funds that are due to them. The projects that have been stalled should be started. Misuse of central agencies and the judiciary should be stopped,” she said.
"Now if they try to bulldoze laws INDIA will push back,” she said.
Over the last ten years, Mamata Banerjee and the Narendra Modi-led centre have been at loggerheads over the disbursement of funds from the Centre and the court-monitored probes initiated against a section of the Trinamul leaders over alleged corruption charges.
Mamata said she was happy the BJP did not get single majority despite committing so many excesses in the last ten years of Modi’s rule.
“They have committed the most atrocities on us in the last ten years. CBI, ED, Income Tax, BJP”s Home ministry all were unleashed. When I saw the exit poll results I asked myself am I losing confidence? I have been on the streets for two months. I did not see the exit polls reflected in the eyes of the people," Mamata said.
The Bengal chief minister said that she had congratulated leaders of the INDIA bloc partners like Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and had also sent a congratulatory message to Rahul Gandhi.
Though Mamata did not say a word against the Congress high command, she accused the state Congress of spoiling the Trinamul’s applecart in some of the seats.
“Four or five seats we have lost because of the Congress. I am not blaming the Delhi Congress leaders, but I don’t believe they gave money to the Calcutta North candidate. BJP supplied money to them. The Berhampore Congress candidate was working for the BJP,” Mamata said without naming state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Calcutta North nominee Pradeep Bhattacharya.
She reiterated that the CPM and the Congress in Bengal had the support of the BJP.
Mamata also alleged that the observers appointed by the BJP were playing a dirty game. “In Contai, our candidate had won but the observer gave the seat to the BJP. We have asked for recounting,” Mamata said.
