Claiming that it was not a BJP's victory in Meghalaya, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said despite her party making an entry into the state only six months ago, managed to get 15% vote share. "I want to congratulate the people of Meghalaya. We started our drive in Meghalaya only six months back, and today we have secured 15% vote-share. This will help us in our resolve to attain the status of the national party. We are the principal Opposition in Meghalaya. In the coming years, we will perform even better,” Banerjee said at a press meet in Kolkata. “There was some confusion in Meghalaya. People thought that Mamata Banerjee is in Congress, since both parties have the ‘Congress’ name in common. Earlier, I was in the Congress. So, the people must have seen my pictures, but we will work to fix this confusion," she added. The TMC failed to live up to expectations both in Tripura and Meghalaya. The party, with zero seats, had overnight emerged as the principal Opposition in Meghalaya after 12 MLAs of the Congress changed sides to it in late 2021. But the party on Thursday managed to win only five seats, with its most prominent leader Mukul Sangma losing in one of the two seats he contested. “In Meghalaya, BJP is leading in three seats. But let me tell them, it is not their victory,” she added. On Tripura Assembly results, the TMC chief said she was “not sure as to who will get the majority”. “But BJP can easily purchase other MLAs as they are habituated to do so. So, nobody knows what kind of post-poll alliance will be formed," she said On Sagardighi bypoll defeat in West Bengal, Banerjee said, “I don’t blame anyone for the defeat. In democratic elections, there can be some minus and plus. However, there is an ‘unholy alliance’ between the Congress, Left and BJP, which we strongly condemn. The Left-Congress alliance may have won, but it is their moral defeat. I don’t blame the people for Trinamool’s loss, I blame the use of communal card. There is no need to worry as we will work even harder now.” Alleging that BJP, Congress and CPI(M) have a “give-and-take relationship”, Banerjee said: “In the coming days, we will end their political drama. In 2024, we will see an alliance between Trinamool and the people. We will not go with any of the other political parties. We will fight alone with people’s support.” Hitting out at the BJP government at the Centre, hours after Enforcement Directorate (ED) started a search operation at the Kolkata house of a government counsel, Sanjay Bose, she said: “The country cannot be run only by these (probe) agencies. This is vendetta-filled politics. It is absolutely wrong if the BJP government in the Centre believes that they can control the judiciary, the Election Commission, CBI, ED and Income Tax." “Yesterday too, ED raided the residence of our state government’s standing counsel. Is this not political vendetta?” she added.
