Kolkata: West Bengal Congress suffered a major setback with five of its MLAs joining Trinamool Congress at the ruling party annual Martrys Day rally in Kolkata. Former Rajya Sabha member of the BJP, Chandan Mitra, also joined TMC at the rally in presence of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress MLAs who switched sides are Sabina Yasmin, Apurba Sarkar, Akrurzaman, Samar Mukherjee and Moinul Hasan. They are legislators from Malda and Murshidabad district.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing the rally said that the party would ensure that the BJP government does not return to power in 2019. Mamata said that a federal front of regional parties would ensure that BJP is defeated. Referring to the 325 votes polled in favour of BJP-led government at the no confidence motion last week, she said that the figure would come down to 100 or 150 in the next Lok Sabha polls.
TMC will win all 42 LS seats: Mamata
She said that TMC would win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the next general elections. She said the BJP's strength would drastically reduced in the next LS polls. "We will win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. It is our pledge. We will oust the BJP to save the country. We will organise a big rally here in January and invite all the (opposition) leaders," she said at the rally. The party presently has 34 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal.
Mamata, who mooted the idea of a federal front to defeat the BJP, said, "We don't bother about the chair. We only bother about the people and the country." Taking a dig at the saffron party for the collapse of a makeshift tent at PM Narendra Modi's rally at Midnapore, she said, "They cannot build a pandal. How can they build the country?" The CM said the number of BJP's Lok Sabha seats would significantly come down in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
"During the no-confidence vote in the Lok Sabha, they (NDA) got 325 votes, but in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, their strength will come down to barely 100 seats," she said.
