Mamata: I Didn’t Lose Poll, BJP Stole It, Will Not Resign
"We did not lose the elections. It is their forceful attempt to defeat us," the incumbent CM asserted, refusing to concede defeat
Kolkata: A day after suffering defeat in her home turf, Bhowanipore, and losing power in West Bengal, Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday refused to follow the tradition of resigning from the Chief Minister's post despite accepting the reality of not having "the chair" anymore.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Banerjee also made clear that she would not even visit Lok Bhavan, the erstwhile Raj Bhavan, to tender her resignation to Governor R.N. Ravi as per custom because she still believed neither she nor her party had lost the battle to the BJP in the just-concluded Assembly elections.
Instead, the TMC chief made a bold claim of her party's “moral victory” against the “forcible occupation” of power by the BJP. She accused the BJP of looting more than 100 seats out of the total 207 it won with the help of the “villain” Election Commission during the counting of votes on Monday.
The term of the Assembly ends on May 7. Banerjee's vow of not stepping down as the head of the outgoing government has not only sprung a surprise in the political circles and beyond but also sent a message to the TMC ranks that she intends not to bow to the first-ever BJP government in the state.
Asked about her resignation, Banerjee, at her first press meet after the TMC lost to the BJP, said, “Why? For what? If anyone thinks I will go to submit my resignation, it is not going to be the case. We didn't lose, so we will not resign. I would have tendered my resignation if I lost or had to take the oath. Now the question does not arise.”
Banerjee added: “If anyone feels that a ‘forcible occupation’ will make me resign, it is not going to happen. All we want to say is that we didn't lose the election. It was their (the BJP) forceful attempt to defeat us. They may or can defeat us officially through the EC. But morally, I am telling you, we won the election.”
The outgoing CM pointed out: "Earlier I was in the chair, so I digested all the atrocities of the BJP. Now I have no chair. I'm a free bird and a commoner. So I can go and fight anywhere. I was and will be on the street because I belong to the street. We will fight and bounce back.”
The TMC chief described the outcome of the just-concluded polls as a "black chapter". She called Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a "villain" and central forces "goons" for scripting it through the "most atrocious acts". She also alleged that she was abused and assaulted during her visit to the counting centre at Shakhawat Memorial School on Monday.
Reaching out to I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties, Banerjee thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for calling her up since Monday night to offer their support to her.
The TMC chief sounded defensive on the question about her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s role, which is widely believed inside and outside their party to be responsible for its downfall after 15 years, and reminded the media that only she was addressing the press conference.
Banerjee later announced a fact-finding team of TMC MPs will look into the statewide atrocities unleashed by the BJP on her party workers. She claimed that her party never targeted the Opposition after coming to power for the first time in 2011.
