West Bengal CM Mamata blames Rahul for Tripura rout
BJP won with help of outsiders, money power and paramilitary forces: Mamata
Discounting the BJP’s massive success in Tripura Assembly elections, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of winning the neighbouring state with the help of outsiders, money power and the Central paramilitary forces.
Hitting out at BJP president Amit Shah, Ms said the saffron party will never win West Bengal, Karnataka and Odisha, the Trinamul Congress supremo wondered if the BJP would be able to continue at the Centre after the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
She said the result in Tripura was due to CPI( M)’ s “arrogance “and the “failure” of the Congress to agree to an alliance.
She added that the result could have been different had Congress president Rahul Gandhi agreed to an alliance with the Trinamul Congress and local Hill parties and claimed the poll results will not help the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in several states.
Hinting at foul play, Ms Banerjee alleged that something unnatural has happened in the Tripura polls which has been wrapped in “mystery”. She suspected that the BJP government at the Centre “blackmailed” the CPI( M) to buy its silence. “I do not see any reason for the BJP to be emphatic over its victory in the Assembly polls in Tripura. The CPI( M) bagged 45 per cent of the total votes. It is no less. And the BJP got 50 per cent votes. What you are not saying is that in the northeastern states power is grabbed with the help of source and force whoever stays in power at the Centre,” she said.
“They ( the BJP) spent huge amount of money. Many incidents took place over EVMs. They brought outsiders to Tripura apart from misusing the Central forces there. But I need to know why the CPI( M) did not protest while thousands of crores were pumped into. The CPI( M) totally surrendered itself to the BJP. Had they not surrendered, the results would not have been bad,” Ms Banerjee said.
“Had Rahul Gandhi accepted my proposal for an alliance among the Congress, the TMC and local hill parties, the situation would have been different in Tripura,” she said.
“I bought a change in 1987 in Tripura. It is not that change did not take place ever there. After 1987, the atmosphere was set for another change in 1992 when Prime Minister Narsimha Rao imposed the President’s Rule at the behest of the CPI( M). Had it not been so, the Congress would have come to power again,” the Trinamul chief added