Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee spoke on Saturday after a long hiatus following her party’s abject failure in the wake of the election debacle in Bengal that ended with her being ousted from power after 15 years.
In a video message on Saturday, the former Bengal chief minister reiterated her claim that the BJP won the elections in Bengal by rigging the elections and that those associated with the TMC are being targeted “in broad daylight”. Track live updates on weather in Mumbai
“I have seen that the BJP came to power by rigging votes. We all know it. They tampered with electronic voting machines, stole votes, tampered with the counting process… This horror has begun to the point where those who support us, those who stand with us, our workers, thousands of them, are being targeted in broad daylight, even when there are no valid cases against them and without court orders,” Mamata said.
Mamata’s message began with a veiled attack on the TMC rebels who quit the party and joined the less popular Indian National Citizens Party on June 14.
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“I express my solidarity, greetings, congratulations and best wishes to the common people, grassroots workers and those from the original All India Trinamool Congress who are still with the party and have not betrayed it by seeking shelter in the BJP,” she said.
She said silence was the loudest sound during her short absence over the past few weeks. Mamata’s statement comes amid a new shake-up for her party with the withdrawal of her loyalist Chandrima Bhattacharya from the TMC.
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Bhattacharya resigned from all TMC posts, a day after TMC legislators, headed by Ritabrata Banerjee, on Friday occupied the party’s rented multi-storey office in Kolkata off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, saying they represented the “authentic TMC”.
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“I hereby tender my resignation from the post of State President of All India Trinamool Congress conferred on me in the meeting held at Kalighat on June 3. I also hereby resign from all other positions currently held by me,” Bhattacharya wrote in her resignation letter.
She addressed Mamata in her capacity as former Prime Minister and not as TMC chief.
Bhattacharya has left the party, though she was recently appointed TMC chief to replace veteran party leader Subrata Bakshi, who was said to be ill. She held positions in the Mamata Banerjee administration including Finance, Health, Panchayat and Rural Development.
