BJP will win only in 150 seats in 2019: Mamata

Chandan Mitra, Ritabrata Banerjee and 4 Congress MLAs join TMC on Martyrs' Day

Massive turnout for for TMC rally in Kolkata on account of Martyrs' Day | Salil Bera Mamata Banerjee | File

Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday predicted that the BJP would be reduced to 150 seats in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mamata Banerjee also asked her party to prevent the grand design of the BJP to win seats in West Bengal in 2019. "Outsiders have entered Bengal and they are scattered in all blocks of Bengal. Prevent their design," she said in her speech on the occasion of Martyrs' Day celebration in Kolkata. 

Saturday's Martyr's day proved to be a day of strength for the TMC with a few famous faces joining the party. As speculated, the day saw BJP former MP Chandan Mitra join the TMC. Earlier this week, soon after his resignation from the BJP, THE WEEK had reported that Chandan Mitra was expected to join the TMC. Chandan Mitra joined the TMC along with 40 other BJP members who had won in the recent Panchayat elections.

Former CPI(M) MP Ritabrata Banerjee and four Congress MLAs from West Bengal also followed Chandan Mitra's steps and joined the TMC. 

Sounding the poll bugle for the 2019 general elections, Mamata Banerjee said she would ensure that all 42 seats of West Bengal would be won by the TMC. She said she was planning to hold a huge rally in Kolkata—similar to what Jyoti Basu did in 1989 against Rajiv Gandhi—to bring all anti-BJP leaders in the country on one stage. 

Massive turnout for for TMC rally in Kolkata on account of Martyrs' Day | Salil Bera All roads led to Kolkata's Esplanade for the TMC rally on account of Martyr's Day | Salil Bera

Predicting the number of seats that the BJP would win in the Lok Sabha elections, Mamata said in Madhya Pradesh the saffron party would get only one-fourth of the seats they won last time. In 2014, the BJP had won 26 seats, whereas the Congress secured only three seats in Madhya Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, she said, the BJP would be reduced to 30 from the current 68, while in Rajasthan and Gujarat it would have no seats at all.

Mamata Banerjee also had a word of caution for the AIADMK. She said the party would draw a blank with Stalin-led DMK going for a whitewash in Tamil Nadu. "Had Jayalalithaa been alive today, the AIADMK would not have voted in favour of the BJP in yesterday's no-confidence motion," Mamata said, referring to Friday's no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi-led BJP had won the no-confidence motion the support of 325 members against 126 who opposed the government. Several AIADMK members had opposed the motion, in a boost to the NDA. 

Criticising the government for its inability to prevent the rising atrocities against minorities in the country, Mamata Banerjee said Swami Vivekananda used to smoke hookah with lower castes and the Ramakrishna Mission, which he was a part of, used to control Kanyakumari before they were stopped by the BJP. Ramakrishna Mission refused to comment on this.

TMC observes Martyrs' Day on July 21 every year to pay homage to 13 Youth Congress workers, allegedly killed in police firing in 1993 during the Left Front regime in West Bengal. But for the first time ever, Mamata Banerjee on Saturday raised slogans like Jai Hind and asked her minister to sing the national anthem during the rally.