Mamata Banerjee on Friday said depending solely on the Congress couldn’t go on, a day after the Grand Old Party had been defeated in five states and amid the clamour for the complete overhaul of the Congress led by the Gandhis.

“The Congress was where it was earlier because they had a large share of the votes throughout the country, through their organisation. But now they are not interested. They are losing this credibility. So, there are so many parties, regional political parties, all must be working together,” said the chief minister, who had campaigned for the Samajwadi Party in UP.

“I simply want that all political parties fighting against the BJP must work together. It will certainly be decisive…. I am certainly interested in everyone getting together. If, for that, they want to exclude me, that’s alright. Let them work together,” she added.

Her response was especially in connection with the UP Assembly polls where the Congress (with two seats and 2.33 per cent votes) and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (with just one seat, but 12.88 per cent of the votes) played spoilsport by splitting the anti-BJP votes.

Asked if the fractured Opposition helped the BJP, Mamata said: “That is true, (about) the fractured Opposition.”

“It means Akhilesh contested against Mayawati, against the Congress, against so many other political parties. But he fought alone, like us (in Bengal)…. Like this, the vote is divided. If the mandate is fractured, it is so because the Opposition vote is divided. That advantage, from this fracturing, is going to the BJP,” she added. “When the people realise this and decide that fragmenting the votes against the BJP helps it win, they will vote for whoever is the most powerful wherever, against the BJP.”

The Trinamul Congress chairperson said the BJP had won Uttar Pradesh riding its “machinery” and urged Akhilesh Yadav – comparing his defeat to the slaying of Abhimanyu in the Mahabharat – not to be disheartened.

She hoped the national Opposition would unite to prevent fracturing of the anti-BJP mandate and mocked Narendra Modi over his 2024 forecast.

“That’s two years away. Who knows what will happen by then? I might not even be alive. Amit Mitra (special advisor to the chief minister on finance) here might not be alive. Chandrima Bhattacharya (minister of state, independently in charge of finance) here might not remain the finance minister,” said Mamata.

“Long before the birth of the child, the invite for their first rice ceremony is being sent out. Before even the birth certificate has been issued, they want to plan the one-year birthday party…. Impractical, totally impractical,” she added. “In fact, the way they won UP, I think it’s dangerous for them. This will not be good for them.”

The Trinamul chief advised Modi to be more submissive and less aggressive.

“He (Modi) is saying these things already? Those who emerge victorious ought to be submissive… every time we win, you have seen, we assert the need for being more and more submissive. But he has become so aggressive on Day One itself, it is the main sign of impending downfall. Don’t be aggressive, from now on… be positive, don’t be negative,” she said, not long after speaking to Samajwadi Party leader Kiranmoy Nanda earlier, conveying her message to Akhilesh, so that he didn’t allow the Uttar Pradesh results to upset him.

“If Akhilesh has lost, if the BJP has won, they did not win because of the populist vote, they did not get the popular mandate. They got the machinery’s mandate,” she added, casting aspersions on EVMs.

Akhilesh’s Samajwadi Party and its allies won 125 (a rise of 73 from 2017) of the 403 seats, with 36.32 per cent of the vote share. But the BJP-led NDA managed 273 (a fall by 49 from five years ago), with 43.82 per cent of the votes.

Mamata, known for her fondness for Akhilesh and having gone to campaign for him twice this election, accused the BJP of electoral malpractice.

“When you say that they won in Uttar Pradesh… if you make your calculations well, you will notice that Akhileshji’s vote share was 21 per cent (in 2017), now it’s nearly 37 per cent. Even when he won (in 2012), as far as I know, his vote share was something around 36 per cent. Akhileshji’s seats increased… the BJP’s reduced,” said the Trinamul chief.

“What happened there, from what I felt… so many complaints against the EVMs (electronic voting machines). The Varanasi (A)DM is also suspended, as far as I know… if the (A)DM is suspended for picking up and hiding EVMs, it is a big issue,” she added.

The Election Commission of India had suspended an additional district magistrate of Varanasi over “breach of protocol”, a day after Akhilesh had alleged tampering of EVMs ahead of counting, by flagging the transportation of the machines. The commission, however, claimed those machines were not used for polling.

Mamata went on to compare Akhilesh to the mythical warrior Abhimanyu, a son of the third Pandav Arjun in the Mahabharat, who was killed on the 13th day of the Kurukshetra War, when Kaurav warriors came together and formed a Chakravyuh (a military formation used to surround enemies, resembling a labyrinth of multiple defensive walls) that he could not make his way out of.

“I think Akhilesh was made to lose, a lot of looting took place…. The way they killed Abhimanyu (in the epic), just like that they did there to defeat him,” she said.

“He should not be depressed, should not be upset. He should go to the people. He should also challenge this…. Every EVM, I believe, should have forensic tests conducted on them. To see whether they are the same machines that people voted on,” said the Trinamul chief. “It (EVM theft and tampering) did not happen in Punjab, because the AAP workers guarded the EVMs. They (the BJP) wanted to do it here too, but our workers guarded the EVMs. But in UP, there was no way to guard the EVMs.”

Asked whether she planned to take initiatives to unite the Opposition, the way she had done before the general election of 2019, Mamata said she would like to see who else does what by way of initiative.

“Other than me, there are many…. If any initiative is taken, I am in. They will, they will… slowly. There is a lot of time, why this rush?” she asked.

When a reference was made of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s controversial 80:20 remark with a blatantly communal implication, Mamata said she simply does not understand such things.

“They want to bulldoze democracy? They want to kill democracy? They want to kill humanity? They want to kill the Constitution? What do you think? India is a democratic country…. They have not seen the public movements. Don’t forget Jayaprakash Narayan-led movements or other such movements,” she said.