Wounded by the electoral reverses suffered by the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday offered to quit her office but “found myself hopelessly alone in trying to do so as all the leaders of my party forced me to continue as the CM.”

Lashing out at the BJP for “squandering cash and creating a totally communal atmosphere to purchase votes,” an apparently emotional Chief Minister said, “I loathe being the Chief Minister of an electorate where votes can be purchased and elections can be won by communal polarisation.”

The TMC, which she built up bit by bit after coming out of the Congress in 1998, suffered a colossal defeat, biggest since 2006 conceding 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats to a surging BJP which reportedly capitalised on a huge chunk of shifting Left votes.

“I don’t want to continue as the Chief Minister of a State where the votes can be sold and purchased. I have information on how votes were purchased for Rs 5,000 per head. Many families were approached with such offers,” she said.

She, however, added she would “now concentrate more on party affairs and its organisational side,” because “I have already done more than I promised as the Chief Minister. Now I will do some work for the party.”

Apart from lambasting the saffron outfit for communalising the electoral atmosphere, manipulating the Central forces and other institutions to win the election, Mamata mounted a no-holds-barred attack on the Commission for playing a partisan game.

“They listened only to the ruling party. They listened to no objections from the Opposition parties,” she said adding “the EC was influenced in such a manner that its own officials’ protests were not recorded.”

Mamata said, “I have realised that development is not the sole factor to catch votes. There are other things like money power, communalisation of the electorate” and manipulation of the EC and the EVMs which impact polling pattern as it did this time round, apparently pointing fingers at some kind of “setting” between the Central Government and the ECI.

“What else can explain the EC’s silence on the communal statements made by the BJP leaders despite clear Supreme Court rulings against it, whereas the Opposition parties were repeatedly booked on same reasons,” Mamata wondered adding “not only the EC, but the Central forces and all other institutions and a large section of the media were sold out.”

Meanwhile, violence continued in large parts of the State this time the TMC was at the receiving end of the most of the attacks, allegedly mounted by the BJP, sources said.

There was one case of death from Chakdah in Nadia district where a BJP supporter who had recently left TMC to join the saffron outfit was allegedly shot dead leading the BJP workers to block roads and rail traffic for hours.

In other places BJP workers allegedly attacked the TMC workers and their houses and party offices in West Midnapore, Coochbehar, Jhargram, Burdwan leaving many injured sources said adding in many cases like Garbeta and Ghatal over 200 TMC men on Saturday joined the BJP.

The TMC tended to taste the same bitter pill --- it prepared once for the CPI(M) --- even as its party offices were occupied by the BJP in Barrackpore, Jhargram, Coochbehar and other places, sources said.

Pointing out at the unusual situation of the Opposition parties getting wiped out in large parts of the country, Mamata said, “It is difficult to accept how Opposition was wiped out in large swathes of India. I wonder whether it was possible with faultless EVMs.”

On the BJP leveling the Opposition leaders as pro-Pakistan before the elections she said “when they invite the foreign guests including the Pakistan Prime Minister during oath-taking there is no fault but when we talk about them or share a dais with some of them during a cricket match we are leveled as Pakistanis.”

Interestingly, the Chief Minister also reminded that she would “definitely attend the Iftaar parties” if invited by the Muslim leaders “because though I come from a Hindu family I believe in unity of religions. I am against discrimination.”

She added “people may accuse me” of mollycoddling the Muslims but “still I will join them in their festival because I will have to take care of the cow that gives milk to me.”

On whether she predicted an early State election she said, “Let them try to dismiss my Government and then they will see the consequence,” Mamata said.

In a bid to revamp the TMC’s organisational set up, the Chief Minister changed a whole lot of district party presidents particularly from the places where the BJP had won. Among the districts where now presidents were inducted were Jhargram, Bankura, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Hooghly, Ranaghat, Krishangar, Asansol, Malda and Murshidabad.