Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee called the Karnataka election results a “definitive indicator of the beginning of the end of the BJP in 2024” and offered her “salutation to the winners”, albeit without naming the Congress party.

She, however, chose to skip a question on her thoughts about Rahul Gandhi’s possible leadership to the Opposition camp in the upcoming general elections, even as the leader hastened to predict: “The BJP would not cross 100 seats” in 2024.

Banerjee was speaking to reporters after walking Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to his car following his 25-minute “courtesy call” at the chief minister’s Kalighat residence on Saturday afternoon.

Khan, who came to Calcutta after more than a decade to participate in a concert at the East Bengal club on Saturday evening, had scheduled the visit to Banerjee’s residence to catch up with the leader on his trip to the city.

Banerjee greeted the actor with an Uttariya (traditional scarf) and later conveyed that she was worried about Khan’s safety in the wake of his recent threat emails from gangsters. “I asked him to take good care of himself,” she said.

On the Karnataka election results, Banerjee said: “This was a defeat of the arrogance, pride, obnoxious behavior and agency politics which the BJP has been practicing across the country”.

“The 'No Vote to BJP' slogan worked in Karnataka,” she observed.

“I salute the people of Karnataka and I salute the winners for their victory. Mr Kumaraswamy has also done well. Next up are the elections in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and the BJP will lose those polls as well. This is the beginning of the end for the BJP in 2024,” the leader declared.

Working out the nationwide math for the Lok Sabha polls next year, Banerjee said: “Where will the BJP get their necessary seats from? They have lost the entire south India. In the east, they have no footing in Bihar, Bengal and Jharkhand. Even Odisha may choose to rethink its strategy this time around. They will lose in Delhi, Maharashtra and Punjab. So it’s only UP, Gujarat and 2-3 seats from Haryana that they are left with.”

“Akhilesh (Yadav) will fare better this time and I will lend my support to him and others in UP,” she added.

“During its peak time, the BJP managed to win 275-300 seats. That situation has changed. Now they may not even cross 100 seats,” Banerjee asserted.

Despite lauding the victors in Karnataka, Banerjee was conspicuous by her silence about the performance of the Congress party, her political rival in Bengal, and even avoided answering a question on Rahul Gandhi. Her tweet on Karnataka earlier in the day also lacked mention of the Congress.

State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s declaration during the day that “only the Congress can effectively take on the BJP in this country” and that only his party can “lead the Opposition” may well have touched a raw nerve with Banerjee who had lashed out at the Congress after her defeat at the recent Sagardighi Assembly bypolls and alleged that the “Left-Congress and BJP were in an unholy alliance against the Trinamul”.

In fact, despite the Karnataka victory, Trinamul national vice president Abhishek Banerjee, who is currently on a grassroots tour of the state, did not miss taking a dig at the state Congress unit while asserting that he was “happy for the Karnataka election results”.

“Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and the CPI-M came together to fight the Trinamul. But all they ended up doing was strengthen the hands of the BJP in this state,” Abhishek said at East Burdwan on Saturday.

However, Mamata Banerjee remained consistent in her advocacy for a one-on-one contest against the BJP in the parliamentary polls. “The Opposition parties are talking to each other and discussing the matter. I continue to maintain that the Opposition should fight the BJP in a one-on-one mode based on wherever each party is strong. This should equally hold true for both regional and national parties,” the Trinamul chief said, perceptively undermining the Congress party’s status.

“The BJP has lost the people’s trust and what’s gone is gone. There’s no way they can salvage that and they cannot make a comeback from this no matter how hard they try,” she said and added that the general elections next year should be fought on the common Opposition slogan “BJP hatao, desh bachao”.