Mamata Banerjee announces post-Lok Sabha elections plan for INDIA bloc, says…

Lok Sabha elections: Mamata Banerjee's TMC is contesting the polls in West Bengal alone, despite being a member of the INDIA bloc

Updated on: May 16, 2024, 07:13:57 IST

By HT News Desk

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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that her party Trinamool Congress will extend outside support to the opposition INDIA alliance to form the government at the Centre.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. (PTI file)

“BJP is claiming that it will win 400 seats, but people are saying it will not happen. The entire country has understood that the BJP is a party full of thieves. We (TMC) will support the INDIA bloc from outside to form a government at the Centre,” the TMC chief said at a rally in Hooghly.

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"We will extend our support so that in (West) Bengal, our mothers and sisters never face a problem... and those who work in the 100 days' job scheme, also do not face problems," she added.

However, Banerjee said that the TMC will not support the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress in Bengal, whom she alleged are helping the BJP.

"Do not count on the CPI(M) and the Congress in Bengal. They are not with us, they are with the BJP here. I am talking about that (INDIA bloc) in Delhi," PTI quoted her as saying.

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Though still a part of the INDIA bloc, the TMC chose to go it alone in Bengal. The Congress and the Left Front have a seat-sharing arrangement in the state under which the Left parties contest 30 seats and the Congress contests the remaining 12 seats

Reminding the BJP of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's loss in the 2004 general elections, Mamata Banerjee said,"They (BJP) are desperate to win. But the country's voice is also united in calling for their defeat. Nobody was able to predict Atal Bihari Vajpayee's defeat in 2004. He gave the slogan 'India Shining' but the winds changed and the people didn't vote for him."

The TMC chief also slammed the Election Commission for holding general elections over a period of two months.

"The Election Commission is a puppet and operates according to Modi's directions. Poll is being held for two-and-half months, have you (poll officials) ever realised the struggle of the common people," she said.

(With PTI inputs)

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HT News Desk
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