West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched a blistering attack on the BJP, accusing the party of “looting votes” to come to power and alleging widespread intimidation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers following the Assembly elections. Breaking her silence on the recent rebellion within the party, Banerjee claimed the BJP had manipulated the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, rigged vote counting and used central forces to influence the electoral outcome.
“We all know BJP came to power by looting votes. They rigged the SIR process, looted votes during the counting process, seized counting centres using central forces and hijacked them,” Banerjee alleged.
She said the TMC had initially chosen to give the new BJP government an opportunity to govern but accused it of unleashing a “reign of terror” instead.
“We were willing to let them work. However, instead of constructive work, there is a trend of victimising people. A reign of terror has been unleashed,” she said.
Banerjee further alleged that TMC workers were being falsely implicated in criminal cases and subjected to harassment.
“Workers who support us, against whom there were no prior charges, are being slapped with baseless accusations involving theft, robbery, rape. They are being thrown in lock-up, their houses set on fire,” she claimed.
Mamata addresses TMC revolt
Addressing the internal revolt within the Trinamool Congress, Banerjee took a swipe at rebel leaders who have questioned the party’s legitimacy.
“Those who won under the Trinamool symbol are now claiming that the party ceased to exist in 2023. Then how did you contest the election in 2026?” she asked.
Issuing a defiant message to her political opponents, Banerjee asserted that attempts to intimidate her would not succeed.
“To silence me, you would have to kill me. Yes, you didn’t spare any effort on that,” she said.
In another jolt to Mamata Banerjee, three former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MPs including Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata on Thursday.
Soon after their induction to the saffron camp, the party nominated all three of them for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypolls.