BJP should stop daydreaming, says Mamata Banerjee on 2024 polls

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (March 11) said the BJP should stop jumping around after its victories in Uttar Pradesh and other states, and charged that its win was due to “election machinery” and not popular mandate.

“Through the use of election machinery and central forces and agencies, they (BJP) have won and few states and now they are jumping around. They play a kettle drum but they cannot make music. For music, you need a harmonium,” she said at a news briefing in Kolkata.

The chief of Trinamool Congress, which failed in its attempt to go national through Goa, rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s projection that the BJP’s victory in four states reflected the mood of the nation for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The BJP should stop daydreaming,” she said, and reiterated her pitch for unity among regional parties to defeat BJP.

“I say that all political parties that want to fight BJP must work together. There are so many regional political parties. All must be working together and the decision on this can definitely be taken,” she said.

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Mamata however appeared reluctant on joining hands with Congress.

“There is no point in depending on the Congress. Congress was earlier capturing the entire country through their organisation, but they are not interested anymore, and they are losing their credibility,” she said.

The West Bengal CM also demanded a probe into EVMs over allegations of malpractices and tampering of the machines.

“If a DM (Varanasi’s Additional District Magistrate) is suspended for removing an EVM (Electronic Voting Machine), then it is a huge thing. I feel Akhilesh [Yadav] has been made to lose. There was loot. Akhilesh should not be depressed and upset. He should go to the people and challenge this,” she said.

“All EVMs should undergo forensic tests to see if these were the same machines used by people to vote and then brought in for counting. If the BJP has won, it has not won by the popular vote. It’s not a popular mandate, it’s a machinery mandate,” she said.