The Trinamool Congress and the BJP were wiped out of West Bengal today, with their combined strength being reduced from 11 to 1. The debacle cut across the rural-urban barrier and was uniformly devastating. While the BJP lost both the seats it held in Kolkata, the urban core of the city — a major Trinamool Congress base — shut its door to the party, resulting in defeat for two of the three party contestants.Mamata Banerjee turned out to be the sole winner of her party from South Kolkata. She won by a comfortable margin of over 98,000 votes but it was far less than the 1999 election which she won by over 214,000 votes.KMC Mayor Subrata Mukherjee was one of the early upsets during the day. He lost Kolkata North West — a seat he was battling for Mamata against former colleague Sudip Bandopadhyay — to CPI(M)’s Sudanshu Sil. So while the two fought, the Left capitilised on it.As the day grew, the NDA alliance’s downfall became evident with leaders like Krishna Bose, Ajit Panja, Ranjit Panja and Bikram Sarkar falling one after another.Though the general trend of voting in West Bengal was a reflection of the strong anti-NDA wave witnessed elsewhere in the country, there was more to the mandate. The verdict evidently was against the Mamata brand of politics — marked with whims, uncertainty and drama.Political circles believe that the Trinamool leader’s has lost her credibility as a responsible leader of the Opposition in the state and it was her duality on several scores that became her undoing. ‘‘She never made her stand clear on the Gujarat carnage. Rather she maintained an ambiguity on the issue distancing the minority voters from her party,’’ sources said.‘‘Mamata’s stand on the Central public sector units was also full of contradictions. For example she spoke strongly against closure of the CPSUs but failed to do anything against it. Her rejection to accept the Coal Ministry and reversal of the decision to accept it was taken as a sign of her growing isolation and weakness within the NDA. Her bargaining power was reduced to almost nil. She had lost her fire. It won’t be long before Trinamool will face largescale defections,’’ they noted.This picture appears favourable for the CPI(M) and the Left Front in the Kolkata municipal elections slated next year. The municipal body is the only seat of power the Trinamool Congress has been holding for the past four years. However, today’s verdict may see it slipping out.Significantly, in recent weeks Mamata had been trying to make amends to her usual style of functioning. She was much restrained and far less aggressive during her election campaign.In defeat too, she was calm and composed. ‘‘I have been with the NDA in better times. I will continue to be with the NDA in the worst of times. But free and fair elections in Bengal can never be held without President’s rule,’’ she said.
