Mamata Banerjee asserted on Monday that BJP’s attempts to break the Trinamul Congress through blackmailing and bargaining would not be successful as she sought to counter the saffron camp’s narrative that Bengal’s ruling party would disintegrate before next Assembly polls.

“You (BJP) may try your best in breaking the party or the government, but that won’t succeed with Trinamul,” the Bengal chief minister thundered at a public meeting at Midnapore College Ground.

Trinamul sources claimed that over 1.3 lakh people from West Midnapore and East Midnapore attended the rally.

The next Assembly polls are going to be the biggest challenge in Mamata’s four-decade political career as the BJP has managed to create a narrative that several senior Trinamul leaders are about to join the saffron camp. The narrative has started getting traction across the state, especially in the two Midnapores, as Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari, one of the key Trinamul leaders, resigned from the cabinet amid speculations he was about to leave the party along with a pack of other leaders.

Trinamul sources said Mamata was aware that her biggest challenge lied in contesting that perception and that’s why the meeting was organised for the party workers in the two Midnapores, which were looked after by the rebel leader.

In her 35-minute speech, she didn’t mention Suvendu even once, but obliquely referred to him and his alleged parleys with the ruling party at the Centre several times.

“If someone thinks that Trinamul can be weakened ahead of the polls by blackmailing or bargaining, I want to tell the BJP and their friends that don’t play with fire,” said Mamata, who stressed repeatedly that Trinamul would return to power in 2021.

“Those who have made a lot of ill-gotten money are going to the BJP to protect their money. This has become a fashion,” she added as she underscored that a few defections would not come in the way of Trinamul’s poll prospects.

The comments, clearly aimed at Suvendu, were significant as they signalled that the Trinamul chief had closed the chapter with the rebel leader, who had apparently rolled out several conditions to continue his association with the party.

She called out the names of almost all Trinamul MLAs from the two districts, who were sitting on two adjacent daises, in her speech, which was an attempt to prove that a majority of them were with her.

The chief minister took care to explain that some didn’t show up — like Patashpur MLA Jyotirmoy Kar and Keshiari MLA Paresh Murmu — according to her advice as they were ailing. Mid-way through her speech, she also named Ranajit Mondal, MLA of Khejuri and a known Suvendu aide, for attending the rally. Another Suvendu loyalist, Moyna MLA Sangram Dolui was also at the meeting.

“The only absentee was Contai North MLA Banasri Maity and we know that she is with Suvendu.... Didi proved that most MLAs still listen to her,” said a Trinamul source.

While it is true that customary attendance of MLAs or a decent turnout at a rally prove little and a lot may change ahead of the elections, there is little doubt that Mamata was successful in proving that she still holds command over the party in the two districts, multiple Trinamul sources told this correspondent.

However, Suvendu loyalists said West Midnapore had contributed more to the turnout and it was a proof that the rebel leader continued to call the shots in his home district of East Midnapore.

In direct reference to the two Midnapores, she announced that the state government had managed to get Rs 15,000 crore investment in a deep-sea port in Tajpur, which would create 25,000 jobs in the two districts.