Upset with Trinamool Congress’ biggest defeat since 2006, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called a high-level meeting on Saturday to discuss possible causes, regarding colossal defeat in the Lok Sabha elections at the hands of the BJP “which does not even have a sound organisational backup in the State.”
Apart from scrutinising the Assembly segment wise polling reports being prepared by the district party leaders the TMC was likely to find out a face-saving excuse for the consumption of the electorate.
According to sources, apart from peddling “massive communal polarisation” as the prime reason for the party’s electoral debacle the party is also likely to hold the Left responsible for paving the way for the BJP’s entry in Bengal.
Already two senior leaders Subroto Mukherjee and Partho Chatterjee on Friday pointed fingers at the CPI(M) wondering how a party that had more than 34 percent of votes could forfeit its deposits in 39 out of 42 seats.
“You can see Assembly wise election results and you will need no rocket science expert to tell how the Left transferred its votes to the BJP,” said State Minister and losing candidate from Bankura Subroto Mukherjee.
“A national level CPI(M) leader was contesting against me. In the Assembly polls he had polled 70,000 votes from one segment. Then how it could be possible that he got only 1 lakh votes in seven segments. This is a clear case of sale of ideology for cash,” a fuming Mukherjee said.
Chatterjee also a senior Minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet said “the BJP has nothing in Bengal. Their balloon was inflated with the gas provided by the CPI(M). The people will be told as to how a party like the CPI(M) did this compromising its ideology,” he said hoping “in the Assembly elections they will refrain from doing so.”
Rejecting TMC’s arguments the CPI(M) leadership said “it was the TMC which brought BJP to Bengal and it was Mamata Banerjee who first started communal politics to appease particular community (read the Muslims).
Senior leader Sujan Chakrabarty also alleged “hundreds of our lower rung leaders are in jail on false charges — sometimes in narcotic cases. Others have fled Bengal in the face of violence and in many cases they have fallen silent as they are asked to pay fines for doing Left politics. This is not so in the case of BJP which is allowed to do organisational politics in Bengal.
“Hence in the absence of local leaders a ransacked and battered Left electorate has voted for the BJP as they have thought that the will get protection from them. The TMC is resposnbile for BJP’s entry in Bengal and loss of its renaissance culture.”
