Speaking to the reporters, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “This is a victory for the people of Bengal. I am proud to say that Bengal saved the country. The Election Commission behaved badly with us — they behaved like BJP’s spokesperson. Two slogans — ‘Khela hobe’ and ‘Joy Bangla’ — worked well for us. Bengal won the match. We will distribute 50,000 footballs among clubs in rural Bengal.”
Banerjee is all set to return as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term, with her party won over 200 seats.
She added, “Covid is my first priority. We will work on this immediately. We will not do a big oath-taking ceremony. We will weather this storm. We will distribute free vaccines to everyone. We request the Centre to distribute free vaccines to all. If this does not happen, I will sit on a dharna in front of the Gandhi Murti in Kolkata.”
She further said, “We appeal to everyone not to do a victory rally now. But this will be after Covid is defeated. We will do a big victory rally at the Brigade Parade Ground later after the situation is normal.”
However, as per the Election Commission count, Mamata has lost the Nandigram seat to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari by 1,736 votes. But mandatory VVPAT verification is currently underway and results will be officially announced only after that.
Speaking about Nandigram where she contested against her protege-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, Banerjee told the press earlier, “Don’t worry about Nandigram. For struggle, you have to sacrifice something. I struggled for Nandigram because I fought a movement. It’s okay. Let the people give whatever verdict they want, I accept that. I don’t mind. We will review the results and go to court if required. I have information that after the declaration of results, there were some manipulations done and I will reveal those.”
