West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asserted that the near future will see an INDIA bloc rule at the Centre.
Speaking to reporters after meeting MPs and senior TMC leaders, Banerjee said her party was taking a “wait and see” approach and would be happy if the “weak and unstable” BJP-led NDA government was sacked.
“BJP is forming the government undemocratically and illegally. Today the INDIA bloc may not have the right to form the government, but that does not mean it will not be done tomorrow, we are waiting,” she said.
Finally, the INDIA bloc will form government in the coming days, TMC leader further said, “But let’s see how they (BJP) are running the government so far,” she said.
A day after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, the INDIA bloc held a meeting in New Delhi and said it would take “appropriate steps at the right time” to fulfill the people’s wish not to be ruled by a BJP government.
The TMC left the INDIA bloc in West Bengal in January, but Banerjee said she is still part of the opposition bloc at the national level and her nephew and political heir attended the INDIA bloc meeting on June 5.
Sources said Banerjee told party leaders and MPs in a closed-door meeting with MPs in Kolkata during the day that the NDA government would not complete its full term “Mamata Didi told us in the meeting that she is sure that since BJP will not get a majority, the NDA government will won’t take long,” said a senior TMC leader present at the meeting.
Also speaking to reporters after the meeting, Banerjee expressed her belief that the “unstable and weak BJP government at the Centre” will not last long. “The NDA government formed is unstable. The BJP did not win a majority; they depend on allies, let’s see how long they can get along with their allies. Banerjee pointed this out after the mandate was against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he should have stepped down this time and let someone else take over. The country needs change; the country wants change; this mandate was for change. I will wait and see” she said. The TMC Supremo also said that the BJP cannot pass the bills alone.”
“Last term BJP itself passed laws without proper debate. But this time they cannot do that. They cannot change the constitution,” she said.
Asked about NDA allies JD (U) and TDP, Banerjee said, “They are also our friends. Who said they are not with us?”
She also announced that TMC will not participate in the swearing-in of the new government. “We have not received an invitation and we will not participate. I will give my message to the people of the country because they did not vote for the BJP,” she said. Banerjee announced that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are demanding repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“This Lok Sabha is not like the previous two Lok Sabhas where they passed bills because they had a raw majority. Our MPs are demanding the repeal of the CAA. We don’t want NRC or the Uniform Civil Code. We will raise our demand for the release of government dues,” she said.
The TMC chief also demanded an inquiry into how the stock market was “manipulated with the help of fake exit polls”. In a meeting of TMC MPs, Mamata Banerjee was unanimously elected TMC Parliamentary Party President “Sudip Bandyopadhyay is the leader of the Lok Sabha, and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar is the appointee pioneer of the party within the Lok Sabha. Kalyan Banerjee is the chief whip, in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien is the TMC leader and Sagarika Ghose is the deputy leader.
TMC won 29 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, while BJP won 12 and Congress one seat.
“Our seat would have reached 35 if the BJP in a tacit agreement with the Election Commission had allowed the election process to be free and fair. BJP has used all means to ensure that the people’s mandate will not be reflected. in many seats,” she said.
