Trinamool Congress will win all 42 LS seats from Bengal: Mamata

The BJP’s strength will come down to 100 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls, says the West Bengal CM

Mamata Banerjee: “They [BJP] cannot build a pandal. How can they build the country?”. File

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used the annual Martyrs Day rally of the Trinamool Congress here on Saturday to sound the bugle for the Lok Sabha election, vowing to remove the BJP from power at the Centre.

At the rally, former BJP MP Chandan Mitra joined the Trinamool Congress, along with several Congress MLAs and former CPI(M) MP Moinul Hasan. Four Congress MLAs — Abu Taher Khan and Akhruzzaman from Murshidabad and Samar Mukherjee and Sabina Yeasmin from Malda — sprang a surprise by attending the rally. Apurba Sarkar, Congress MLA from Kandi, who had a few months ago switched sides, was present. Expelled CPI(M) MP Ritabrata Banerjee and suspended Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh were at the venue with the Trinamool leadership. Ms. Banerjee said the promise everyone had to make at the rally was to win all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. She exhorted her supporters to repeat “42 out of 42” several times.

She said the Trinamool Congress would organise a bigger rally at the Brigade Parade grounds on January 19. “I will invite all political parties from the country to show them that Bengal can show the way,” she said. Later in the evening, party sources said Ms. Banerjee would extend the invite to the Congress and the CPI(M).

Referring to the no-confidence motion, Ms. Banerjee said the BJP might have secured 325 votes and the Opposition only 126, but in the Lok Sabha election, the BJP would not get past 150. She went on to predict results from Tamil Nadu to Punjab.

Stand on Congress

Ms. Banerjee said the Congress leadership would have to decide which side it was on.

“I will tell those who are still with the Congress that in Delhi the Trinamool Congress will support you and here they will join hands with BJP, this cannot go on,” she said.