E-Paper
Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal question West Bengal verdict; BJP calls it ‘sour grapes’
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured a sweeping victory in West Bengal by securing 207 of the 294 seats, while the ruling Trinamool Congress was reduced to 80.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday questioned the outcome of the West Bengal assembly elections, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a sweeping victory by securing 207 of the 294 seats, while the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was reduced to 80.
Although TMC supremo and incumbent chief minister Mamata Banerjee had contested against the Congress and the Left — her partners in the larger INDIA bloc — Rahul Gandhi said no party should gloat over the TMC’s defeat.
“Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC’s loss. They need to understand this clearly — the theft of Assam and Bengal’s mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy,” Gandhi wrote on X on Tuesday afternoon.
The Congress and CPI(M), which contested as adversaries, won two and one seat respectively. Neither party had won a seat in the 2021 polls.
“Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India,” Gandhi added.
Kejriwal also questioned the outcome, noting that it came at a time when, he claimed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity was declining.
“The BJP could not win in Bengal in 2016 and in Delhi in 2015 when the ‘Modi wave’ was at its peak. It won only 3 seats in each of these states. Yet, BJP won Bengal and Delhi at a time when Modi ji’s popularity is dropping across the country. How?” he wrote on X.
Responding to the remarks, West Bengal BJP chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar dismissed the criticism.
“Grapes are sour. That’s all we can say. If these people have so many questions then why don’t they raise it before the Supreme Court under whose supervision the elections were held,” Sarkar told HT.
