Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday congratulated the people of Meghalaya as her party won five seats in its poll debut there, but beat around the bush on Tripura, where her party trailed behind Nota.

The Left and the Congress accused her of helping the BJP or its allies by contesting in these two states. The BJP mocked the “futility” of her pan-India aspirations. In Meghalaya, Trinamul found a toehold, winning five of the 56 seats it contested, securing an equal number of seats as the Congress and two more than the BJP.

Trinamul won 13.79 per cent (provisional) of the votes in Meghalaya, finishing third after regional parties, the ruling NPP, and its former ally UDP. “I want to congratulate the people of Meghalaya. We started our drive in Meghalaya only six months ago, and today we have secured (nearly) 15 per cent of the vote share. This will help us in our resolve to be a national party….,” Mamata said at a news meet in Nabanna.

While the BJP secured 9.3 per cent of the votes in Meghalaya, the ruling NPP it supports secured 31.42 per cent. The UDP got 16.24 per cent, while the Congress received 13.17 per cent.

“People thought Mamata Banerjee is in the Congress, since both parties have the word Congress in their name...,” added Mamata. In Tripura, a Bengali-majority state where Trinamul hoped to do well and contested 28 seats, it won none. It secured 22,316 votes — 0.88 per cent of the vote share — in the provisional tally, finishing behind Nota with 34,449 votes, or 1.36 per cent.

“In Tripura, results are not very clear…. The BJP can easily purchase other MLAs...,” said Mamata, before the BJP ended up getting a simple majority with 32 of the 60 seats. In Tripura, the Congress-Left combine got over 35 per cent (provisional) of the vote share. The BJP-led alliance got 40-odd per cent.

“In Tripura, Trinamul got less than 1 per cent of votes but in 13 seats Trinamul bagged 500-600 votes each and helped the BJP win,” said CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty. In Meghalaya, he said Trinamul’s rise hurt the Congress and helped the BJP and its ally NPP.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called Trinamul “an agent” of the BJP. BJP’s Bengal co-minder and IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted: “The NE has rejected Mamata Banerjee. WB will be next….”