West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee talks with TMC General Secretary Partha Chatterjee during the budget session of West Bengal Legislative Assembly, in Kolkata on March 11, 2022. (PTI Photo)
Kolkata, March 11 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that the UP verdict was not a "true reflection of people's mandate" and dubbed as "daydream" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that the election results of 2022 will set the template for 2024 parliamentary polls.
Banerjee accused the saffron camp of looting votes to win elections in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
Urging Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav not to lose heart, Banerjee demanded that forensic tests be conducted to verify if fair means were adopted to conduct the elections.
Iterating her call for an opposition alliance to defeat the BJP, the TMC boss also claimed that depending on Congress would yield little.
"Using election machinery and central forces, they (BJP) have won a few states. The party can play the drum, but cannot make music. For music, you need a harmonium. If a DM (Varanasi's Additional District Magistrate) is suspended for removing an EVM, it is a huge thing. Akhilesh Yadav (of the Samajwadi Party) lost the election because votes were looted," she maintained.
"The party (BJP) should not raise its voice simply because they have bagged the elections in a few states. This victory is not a true reflection of the people's mandate. All EVMs should undergo forensic tests to see if these were the same machines used by people to vote," Banerjee, while speaking a press meet, stated.
Bulldozing a resurgent rainbow coalition led by the Samajwadi Party, the BJP on Thursday stormed back to power in Uttar Pradesh and also retained Uttarakhand Manipur and Goa, while Arvind Kejriwal's AAP scripted a stellar victory in Punjab, winning a three-fourths majority.
Banerjee also rejected assertions that the assembly poll results reflected people's mood for 2024 Lok Sabha elections
"The BJP should stop daydreaming. Nobody knows what will happen in 2024," she said.
Hitting out at the Congress over its failure to put up a credible fight against the BJP, Banerjee said the grand old party no longer seemed interested in winning elections.
"I feel all political parties who want to fight the BJP must work together. There is no point in depending on Congress anymore. The Congress was earlier capable of winning as it had an organisation. But now they are losing everywhere; it seems they are not interested anymore (in winning). They have lost credibility, and there is no point in depending on them," she stated.
Talking about her party's performance in Goa assembly polls, Banerjee said the TMC put up a commendable performance, despite having opened a unit in the coastal state just a few months back.
"We have done quite well in Goa. What more do you expect from a party, which opened its unit in the western state just three months back. We will continue to expand our party nationally," she said.
Asked about the reports that suggested Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), with which the TMC had stitched a pre-poll alliance, is planning to support the BJP, the CM said she doesn't support the decision.
"We had a pre-poll alliance with the MGP in Goa. They (MGP) have won seats, unlike us. Now, if they want to reach out to the BJP, we are not in a position to stop them. But we don't support the decision," she added.
Leader of the opposition and senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, when asked about the allegations levelled by Banerjee, said her "baseless claims" won't yield any results.
"When the TMC won elections in Bengal, the EVMs were fine. But now that the BJP had won the elections, EVMs were apparently defective. This only proves the double standard (of Banerjee). She had said that UP elections would prove to be semi-final before Lok Sabha elections, and now she is saying something different," he said.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from news agency feeds and has not been edited by The Morung Express.
Source: PTI
