Mishra, also the leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly, said the alliance with the Congress “had its faults” and attributed a “tacit understanding” between the Trinamool and the BJP behind the ruling party’s electoral triumph. The Left-Congress combine completely failed to unsettle her.
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The BJP, which in the 2011 Assembly elections had got four per cent vote share and 17 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, managed to retain about 10 per cent vote share.
About TMC’s equation with BJP, she said, “We have ideological differences with it but we will always support it on issues that are beneficial to the people”.
Terming the alliance between Congress and CPI(M) a “blunder”, she said when “ideology is lost, everything is lost”.
“People of Bengal have rejected attempts by the opposition to mislead them”. “We will support GST”, she added.
Indeed, to understand this victory, one has to understand the nature of Ms. Banerjee’s appeal and her carefully crafted image built over the years.
She will take oath on May 27.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said though the outcome in Kerala and Assam was not surprising, that in West Bengal had come as a disappointment for the party as it expected to do much better.
She alleged that she was personally targeted and slandered, and many of her party workers were murdered. In the second phase, 79.70% people exercised their right to vote.
Simultaneously, Ms. Banerjee’s overtures to Muslims (the controversial stipend for imams, and her direct appeal to the community from political platforms) who constitute 28 per cent of the population have also helped create a Hindu vote. She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley congratulated her on TMC’s victory.
“There has to be a Laxman Rekha in politics which has to be adhered to”.
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With a sizeable place in Assam and 300% growth in Bengal, the saffron party is busy shaking away the cobwebs that had set in, insiders said.
