Didi confident of returning to power in Bengal

Buoyed by the exit poll results, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee exuded confidence on Friday that her Trinamul Congress would return to power on May 2 with a “clear majority” for a third consecutive term, as the BJP sounded confident about its first-ever electoral victory in the state.

On Friday afternoon, the TMC supremo addressed party candidates and leaders privately at a virtual meeting for around 45 minutes from her Harish Chatterjee Street residence in Kalighat ahead of the counting of votes two days later.

Sharing her poll assessment, Banerjee indicated her party would win “two-thirds” of 294 seats and have a “clear majority” in the House. She also predicted the TMC will do well in North Bengal and Jangalmahal — the two key zones that emerged as the BJP’s main vote base over the past five years.

Asking TMC candidates not to get demoralised if they see the BJP getting leads in the initial trends after counting of votes starts, Banerjee, in a set of “do’s and don’ts”, directed them to ensure their agents don’t leave the counting centres under any circumstances till the last vote is tallied.

She also cautioned TMC candidates and their agents not to take food and water from anyone other than their families. On the other hand, the BJP, that campaigned for winning over 200 seats, claimed it was confident of achieving its goal to form its firstever government in the state.

State BJP vice-president Joy Prakash Majumdar told this newspaper: “We feel that the BJP is now in a position to form its government here definitely. Among the exit polls, some showed the TMC ahead and others rated the BJP in the lead. Some also tried to keep a balance. The exit polls were done after talking to different people. At the end, the BJP is going to form the next government with a new life, new change and new future for the people of Bengal.”

Sanjukta Morcha, a triangular alliance of the Congress, Left parties and the Indian Secular Front, a new outfit of Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui, however, believes it would emerge as a “deciding factor” in forming the next government in the state.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya said: “The Sanjukta Morcha will get a maximum 45 seats altogether, though it cannot be said right now which party in our alliance will get how many.”