Will fight 2024 General Elections alone: Mamata after bypoll defeat
What's the story
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, Mamata Banerjee, said on Thursday that she will not join hands with any party and fight the 2024 General Elections alone.
She said the TMC will form an alliance with the people, adding that those voting for the Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) are indirectly voting for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Context
Why does this story matter?
Banerjee's reaction could be read as frustration after TMC's defeat at the hands of the Congress in the Sagardighi bypoll in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Thursday. The TMC had registered three consecutive wins in Sagardighi prior Thursday's election.
Banerjee's decision will weaken the prospect of a grand alliance of the Opposition to take on the BJP in the upcoming General Elections next year.
Relationship
BJP, Congress, CPI(M) have give-and-take relationship: Mamata Banerjee
She alleged an "immoral alliance" between the BJP, the Congress, and the Left Front.
She said the parties have a give-and-take relationship and that the TMC will "end their political drama" in the coming days.
She said the Congress and CPI(M) can't be trusted and were incapable of fighting against the BJP since they have a "setting" or an understanding among themselves.
Details
BJP, Congress, CPI(M) all played communal card: TMC
She further claimed that the BJP, Congress, and CPI(M) all played the communal card in Sagardighi.
Although the BJP played it openly, the other two parties "played it to a greater extent," she said after the Left Front backed Congress's Bayron Biswas over TMC's Debasish Banerjee.
Referring to her party's 2019 election victory, she claimed that the TMC will ward off the BJP alone.
Meghalaya
TMC now largest Opposition party in Meghalaya
Banerjee hailed her party's performance in the Meghalaya Assembly elections after it won five out of 60 seats on Thursday.
This will help the TMC become a national party, she said.
She said her party started its drive in Meghalaya only six months before the election, but still managed to secure 15% of the vote share, becoming the principal Opposition in the state.
SC
Banerjee welcomed SC's decision
Separately, she welcomed the Supreme Court's (SC) decision to overturn the existing system of selecting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Elections Commissioners (EC), calling it a "democratic victory."
On Thursday, the SC ordered a new panel, including the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha's Leader of Opposition (LoP), and the Chief Justice of India (CJI), to elect the members of the poll body.
Raid
BJP's political vendetta against TMC: Banerjee
The West Bengal CM also questioned the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) raid at the residence of the state government's standing counsel, Sanjay Basu, on Wednesday.
She added that the probe agencies are taking arrested TMC's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal to Delhi to capture votes in the upcoming panchayat elections.
She called it a political vendetta and said the probe agencies couldn't find anything worthy.