Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday told her party MLAs not to get worried by the BJP’s win in Delhi Assembly elections, saying the Congress was not in a position of strength in West Bengal to spoil TMC’s chances of winning the next year’s elections in the state.
Speaking at the Legislative Party meeting of the TMC in Kolkata on the first day of the Budget Session, she also ruled out joining hands with the Congress and expressed confidence about winning the Assembly elections with a two-third majority.
“The Congress did not help the AAP in Delhi. The Congress should have been more flexible during seat adjustment (with AAP) in Delhi. Similarly, in Haryana, AAP was rigid against making an alliance with Congress.
As a result, both Haryana and Delhi were won by the BJP,” she was quoted as saying by a party leader in the closed-door meeting.
“Here in Bengal, Congress is not a factor. In Delhi, Congress can spoil the journey of AAP. But here they can’t. We will fight alone in the coming Assembly election and we will win more than two-thirds seats… Here nobody is a factor and can’t take away our votes. We will easily win in 2026,” the TMC chief asserted.
According to a party leader, Banerjee said like-minded parties must have an understanding so that anti-BJP votes are not divided. “… Everyone should be together. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the INDIA bloc to stop the BJP at the national level,” she added.
The TMC chief also asked party MLAs to be alert as the “BJP might try to include names of foreigners in the voter list to win the election”. Stating that she would reshuffle the party’s units from state-level to the booth level, and various wings, Mamata told party MLAs to submit three names for block president and area president to senior leader Arup Biswas by February 25. “From there, I will choose the names,” she said, making it clear as the chairperson of the party, she has the last word on the issue.
The TMC chief also described the arrest of former food minister Jyotipriya Mallick in the ration scam as “unfair”, claiming that there is no evidence against him. “The ED could not submit evidence against Balu (Jyotipriy Mallick) in court. However, he was imprisoned for such a long time. Billions of corruption money was talked about without any evidence. As a result, he was unjustly detained for so long.”
Mallick, the former food minister who was arrested in 2023 by the ED in the alleged ration scam, was last month released on bail on a personal bond of Rs 50 lakh.