Trend across India against BJP: Mamata on bypoll results

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the "trend across India is against the BJP" as shown by the bypoll results.

The I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties won 10 assembly seats, while the BJP clinched two and an Independent one, as the votes were counted on Saturday for the by-elections held earlier this week in 13 seats in seven states.

Banerjee, the TMC supremo, claimed that the NDA received 46 per cent votes, while INDIA constituents got 51 per cent vote share in the bypolls held in the 13 seats, including four in West Bengal, three in Himachal Pradesh, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

Expressing gratitude to people for the TMC's win in all the four seats in West Bengal, Banerjee said the BJP has not fared well in bypolls in other states also, except in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

"The trend across India is against the BJP," she told reporters after arriving at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here from Mumbai.

Asked whether this was an indicator that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre may not last its full term, Banerjee said, "The trend is very clear, even earlier mandate (of Lok Sabha elections) was not in favour of NDA." The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha elections, but could not garner a majority on its own in the NDA government's third consecutive term.

"The mandate is against them, and now they have again started the agency raj," she said.

In West Bengal, TMC wrested Raiganj, Bagda, and Ranaghat Dakshin seats from the BJP and retained Maniktala in Kolkata.

"There was a political significance of the elections in Raiganj and Maniktala," she said.

The TMC chief said that party candidate Supti Pandey's victory by over 62,000 votes in Maniktala was a "very good one", while that of Krishna Kalyani in Raiganj, just a month after he was defeated by the BJP candidate in the elections to the eponymous Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Dinajpur district, was a "resounding reply" to the saffron party.

Calling it a "people's victory", the TMC chief said that this win will renew the party's dedication to social responsibility towards the people.

Banerjee said the party would dedicate its poll victories to the martyrs at the July 21 Martyrs' Day rally held every year.

Stating that TMC as a political party works for social service, Banerjee warned that anyone deviating from the goal will have to take responsibility for their activities.

Speaking on the new criminal laws that replaced British-era laws, Banerjee claimed that their contents are not yet clear even to the lawyers and the police.

"Freedom is at stake. Everybody, without any evidence, can be victims," she alleged.

The TMC had on earlier occasions claimed that some provisions of the new laws are "draconian and anti-people." Claiming that the new criminal law bills were not discussed before being passed in Parliament, she urged the central government to review the situation following implementation of these.

"Without giving any scope to understand the bills, they have passed those unilaterally. It will affect good governance, judiciary, legal fraternity, police and all," she said.

Throwing light on her meetings with Maharashtra politicians and INDIA alliance leaders Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, Banerjee said that both are known to her for a very long time.

"I have been MP seven times and minister four times, I know almost all senior and important leaders in India," Banerjee, who went to Mumbai to attend the wedding ceremony of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, said.

Banerjee said a meeting with Pawar while visiting Mumbai is a must and Uddhav Thackeray is like a family member, like Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

"I had a chance to congratulate them after the elections," she said.