KOLKATA: Barely two days after the Lok Sabha results showed stunning gains for BJP in
,
on Saturday offered to quit the chief minister’s post and work as the Trinamool Congress chief to focus on reviving her party. The offer was duly turned down by her colleagues.
“Ami chair ke chai na, chair er amake chai (I don’t crave the chair, the chair needs me),” Banerjee said after a party meeting to review Trinamool’s poll reverses.
Banerjee’s first public response to the Lok Sabha results was part emotional-outburst and part post-mortem. There was a palpable feeling of being betrayed by voters, at being let down despite her “government’s commendable work” and “fulfilling all promises”. “I think I may have done a little more than I should have. I will now devote more time to the party,” she said at a media briefing after the meeting.
Banerjee also made a direct reference to the oft-repeated charge of minority appeasement. “Yes, I will attend iftars if I am invited. I will do so if even this means Muslim appeasement. Je goru doodh daye, tar lathi khete raji achhi (I am ready to tolerate a cow’s kicks as long as it gives me milk),” the CM said, implying she was ready to continue with Muslim appeasement despite all criticism as long as it helped her.
It was also clear that an initial post-mortem had been done and she had received feedback about a few leaders “taking money” and sabotaging Trinamool’s prospects in the polls, which saw the BJP getting 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. Trinamool insiders said some heads would roll after the party’s final review next Friday.
The post-meeting media briefing revealed how much she had taken the poll reverses to heart, especially after having done “so much work” for the people. “I fulfilled all promises I made. My government has done commendable work for the past eight years,” she said, but lamented “I may have done a little more than I should have”.
“I told my colleagues how difficult it was for me to continue in office for the last six months. It was like the Emergency. I couldn’t work for six months. Yes, I was the chief minister but at the Election Commission’s pleasure. I tried to convince my party that there was no reason to continue in office in such a situation. But I was alone,” she added.
The Trinamool chief suspected something amiss in the results. “How is it possible that so many states — Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat — do not have any opposition representation? I suspect some sort of a programming set somewhere. Foreign hands are involved,” the CM said. “Check out how much money entered individual bank accounts when the model code of conduct was in force. I came to know from a journalist that they (BJP) paid Rs 5,000 for a vote and Rs 3,000 to a polling agent,” she added.
The CM, however, saw a silver lining in the Bengal result. “Our vote share has increased by 4%. We have a majority. But we need to improve our vote share by 5% more to stay ahead of the entire opposition: Ram (BJP), Baam (Left front) and Shyam (Congress),” the Trinamool chief said, explaining how the shift of Left votes helped the BJP surge.
“The CPM’s 29% vote share decreased by 22%, pushing up the BJP’s vote share to 40%,” she said.
LOK SABHA ELECTION RESULT 2019
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