Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee claimed on Tuesday that his party had already "crossed 23" out of 33 Lok Sabha seats that had gone to the polls in the last six phases.
"I want to tell you today that out of 33 seats, even though the election in the remaining nine seats is pending (on June 1), the Trinamool Congress has already crossed 23. You can quote this estimation in my name in newspapers or television channels. I challenge this and ask you to tally the estimation when the result will be out on June 4," said Abhishek while addressing a gathering at Sarisha, after completing a road show in his Diamond Harbour constituency.
The remaining nine seats, which are currently held by Trinamul, including Diamond Harbour represented by Abhishek, will vote in the seventh and concluding phase on June 1.
Since the first phase was held in Bengal on April 19, this is the first time Abhishek has provided any estimate of seats his party will win. Earlier, answering questions from reporters, Abhishek had claimed even in the worst situation, Trinamool would get at least 23 seats, one more than what his party had secured in 2019. The BJP had won 18 seats in 2019.
"Many media friends have been texting me to know my estimation about the number of seats. I told them that I would come up with that at the right time. I am telling you, the biggest margin of victory in this Lok Sabha poll will come from this constituency, Diamond Harbour, and it will be the final nail in the coffin of the BJP in Bengal," added Abhishek, while addressing the gathering of around 40,000 people.
Abhishek presented his claim of having already won 23 seats on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a news agency that Bengal would be the best-performing state in the country in this Lok Sabha poll.
In April last year, Union home minister Amit Shah had set a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal for the BJP. Modi, in a rally from Krishnanagar in March this year, asked his party colleagues to ensure victory in all 42 seats in Bengal.
On Tuesday, Modi, who had attended two campaign rallies and a road show in north Calcutta, also claimed that the party's performance in eastern India would be surprising.
A senior Trinamool leader said Abhishek's claim was based on inputs received from party colleagues in various districts where the elections were conducted in the past six phases.
"If Abhishek's estimation comes true, then the party would cross 30 in terms of the number of seats in the state as all the nine seats that will go to the polls on June 1 have our sitting MPs," said the TMC leader.
BJP leaders, however, ridiculed Abhishek's claim and said it was a move by Mamata Banerjee's nephew to boost the morale of party workers ahead of the last phase.
In a reaction dripping with sarcasm, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya said:
"He could have claimed that his party has won 36 seats out of 33. TMC could not even appoint agents at polling booths in different south Bengal districts. He can't boost the morale of his party workers with such an audacious claim."
Abhishek claimed that the BJP has started blaming central forces as the paramilitary wings already know that the INDIA bloc would form the government at the Centre.
"BJP has now started blaming the central forces for not working properly. Why? Because the central forces have already come to know that on June 4 the democratic INDIA bloc will form the government at the Center," said Abhishek.
Mamata, who was addressing a rally at Behara Chowrasta that is part of the Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha seat, also claimed Modi would be Prime Minister for barely seven or eight more days. "He can't even inaugurate anything after June 4 as he will be a former prime minister within seven or eight days," Mamata said.
Mamata, who conducted two road shows in the Dum Dum and Kolkata Uttar Lok Sabha constituencies, criticised Modi's claim that the Centre had monitored the situation of cyclone Remal with the help of the NDRF.
