Armed with a landslide electoral victory in the Bengal Assembly elections the Trinamool Congress would now take a meaningful plunge in national politics not just for the heck of it but to win seats by defeating the BJP, the party's newly-appointed national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on Monday. The State BJP however, pooh-pooed Banerjee’s “ballooning overconfidence,” calling it a “rat’s audacity to take on the cat,” and adding that the TMC’s drive was aimed at the Congress in reality.
Meeting the media for the first time after being elevated as his party’s national-charge-de-affairs, Banerjee said “If we decide to venture outside we will do so with a definite intent of winning… If we decide to launch ourselves in other States we will do so not to win a few seats or to increase out vote share but to win power in that State by taking the BJP head on.”
The Diamond Harbour MP who is also the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said his party would make it clear in a week’s time regarding its future plans and the States in which it will launch itself.
When asked to comment on BJP’s allegation that the TMC was a victim of dynastic politics junior Banerjee wondered whether there was no dynastic culture in the saffron outfit. “What about Jay Shah (son of Home Minister Amit Shah),” Banerjee said. “you first come out of dynastic politics and then accuse the others,” he said adding “let the BJP bring a Bill banning dynastic politics … I will be the first person to quit my posts.”
Though prima facie junior Banerjee was talking in terms of the upcoming elections in States like UP, Gujarat etc experts had no doubt that through these State polls the TMC was planning to project itself and Mamata Banerjee for the 2024 General elections.
On the TMC’s pan-Indian ambitions Bengal BJP leader Sayantan Basu however said “day dreaming is not bad… let them dream but the problem is hardly a soul knows a word called ‘Trinamool’ beyond the borders of Bengal … even in the neighbouring states of Jharkhand or Assam.”
Another leader and party MP said “it is in fact Mamata Banerjee’s plans to challenge the Congress at the national level … she wants to snatch the baton of national opposition in her own hands from that of the Congress Party.”
Commenting on the issue a professor and a veteran political analyst from the Jadavpur University said, “The bigger task is not to edge out Narendra Modi or the BJP but to dodge past the Congress by projecting Mamata Banerjee as a national alternative.” adding “… Bengal polls have boosted the Chief Minister’s pro-minority image … the entire Muslim voters rallied behind her in the elections … now she may try to carry that image to States like UP, Gujarat, Goa and Manipur … particularly Gujarat and UP.”