Didi nephew: TMC will ‘go national’, take BJP ‘head on’
‘Not just seats, we aim for power in other states’
Emboldened by his promotion to national general secretary from youth wing president in the Trinamul Congress after its third term victory in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Monday unveiled the party’s ambitious plans to expand its domination in other states, become a formidable “national” player in the country’s politics and “take the BJP head on” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Diamond Harbour MP said: “The way the people of Bengal replied to the BJP in the Assembly polls this time
Sometimes, dynasty is better than being nasty…
— Abhishek Banerjee, TMC leader
for its politicisation and misuse of each and every federal institution, including the Central agencies and the Election Commission, with the help of money, muscle and mafia power, it has created hope in the country. We have received one lakh emails congratulating us for our victory, which shows the way
before the country from all the states in the last one month.”
Mr Banerjee elaborated: “I want to take Ms Banerjee’s message to every nook and corner of the country. In the next two to three weeks or a maximum of one month, we will come out with a concrete plan — what the TMC wants to do, which are the states we want to start our units in and our
expansion plans. But make no mistake, let me put this on record, when we come out with a plan, this TMC attempt to go national is going to be very different from what the TMC attempted in the past.”
He added: “If we go to any state irrespective of its size, we will not be there to fight the polls only, get one or two MLAs and increase voteshare. We will go there to win it. Wherever we will go, we will start to win the state. We want to be a platform of choice for the people of that particular state. We do not want to exist in the Opposition in the form of three or four or five MLAs. It can be a state in southern or northern or Northeast India. But we will take the BJP head on to win the state.”
On the BJP’s allegations of “dynasty politics” against him, Mr Banerjee said: “The BJP is rattled and bewildered by Abhishek Banerjee’s appointment.
On one hand they are saying there is no existence of the party outside Bengal, so why are they scared? I am advising the BJP to ‘preach what you practice’. I am requesting Amit Malviya of the BJP to pass a bill to put a full stop to dynasty politics. Can Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket of India, come out into the open and say: I do not want to be the BCCI president for the next 20 years? But I can clearly say I do not want to be in the state, or for that matter any ministerial berth, for the next 20 years... Sometimes, dynasty is better than being nasty. Take it that way.”