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TMC loses Sagardighi after 13 yrs, Mamata says won’t ally with Cong-Left in 2024
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee accused the Congress-Left combine of having an ‘immoral alliance’ with the BJP and said that her party will not enter into any partnership with the two opposition parties to fight the saffron camp in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday lost the Sagardighi assembly seat in West Bengal after a gap of 13 years to the Congress-Left alliance in a by-election, prompting chief minister Mamata Banerjee to accuse the latter of having an ‘immoral alliance’ with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The TMC supremo also declared that her party will not enter into any partnership with the two opposition parties in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The TMC had been winning from Sagardighi in Murshidabad since 2011, three times in a row, and the bypoll result is seen as a major setback for the party ahead of the crucial panchayat elections.
The by-poll was necessitated after the TMC’s legislator from Sagardighi and state minister Subrata Saha died in December last year.
The Left-backed Congress candidate Bayron Biswas won the by-election by a margin of more than 22,000 votes.
“I am very happy today. My heart was full after I saw the excitement among the workers. The end of Mamata Banerjee is growing in Murshidabad district. This is a joint victory of the Left and the Congress. The opposition has to come together to uproot the TMC. Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly played the minority politics card and has betrayed them,” Adhir Chowdhury, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, told the press.
Sagardighi is known for its beedi industry and has more than 60% minority population. The rural seat also has around 18.5% Scheduled Caste and 6.5% Scheduled Tribe population. It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, however, said that there was an ‘immoral’ alliance between the Left, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“There was an immoral alliance (between the BJP, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPIM and the Congress). The BJP transferred a portion of their votes to the Congress. If there is an immoral alliance and they want to fight Mamata Banerjee, how will the Congress or Left fight the BJP? The TMC will fight this alliance alone,” she said.
“It is a lesson for all of us that we shouldn’t listen to the Congress or the Left. We cannot go with those who are with the BJP. There would be an alliance between the TMC and the people (in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll). We will not go with anyone them. We will fight alone with the help of people’s support,” she added.
CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim told the media: “The people of West Bengal have been demanding freedom from corruption and goons. This victory is a reflection of that. We want the opposition who want to fight the TMC and the BJP, to unite.”
Political experts said that the minority population played a major role behind the TMC’s loss.
“This by-election has triggered multiple questions. In 2021 assembly polls we saw a bipolar contest between the BJP and the TMC. Has the Congress-Left alliance brought an end to it? Has there been a shift in minority vote after some recent incidents such as death of student leader Anis Khan, the Bogtui massacre and the arrest of lone ISF legislator Nawsad Siddique,” poll analyst Biswanath Chakraborty told a local media.
