Kolkata (West Bengal), May 05: A day after Trinamool Congress lost the West Bengal Assembly polls following 15 years in power, outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday ruled out resigning and called the defeat a result of “massive misappropriation and vote-looting.”
Speaking at a press conference with nephew Abhishek Banerjee and outgoing Cabinet members, she said the results “did not reflect the true public mandate” and asked, “Why shall I resign now? We are not defeated in the true sense.”
Banerjee said her fight was “more against the Election Commission of India than the BJP,” accusing the ECI of being the “main villain” that “created a black history.” She alleged the Special Intensive Revision exercise took away voting rights, that raids harassed her party workers before polls, and that officers were changed under a “setting between the BJP and the ECI.” The Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, she claimed, were “directly involved in this conspiracy.”
She also alleged she was “kicked” when she visited a counting centre on Monday afternoon.
The TMC chief stressed the need to strengthen the INDIA Bloc for a national movement against the BJP-led Centre. She said she had received solidarity calls from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Hemant Soren after results were declared Monday night.
“The INDIA Bloc will become stronger in the coming days. Akhilesh wanted to come today. I have asked him to come tomorrow. Everyone will come one by one. We will strengthen the Opposition alliance,” she said.
