Mamata at the news conference. (Amit Datta)

Calcutta, May 21: Mamata Banerjee has finally regained the voice — and face — she lost in 2006.

Two years after the Trinamul Congress leader cut a sorry figure by failing to win more than 30 seats in the Assembly polls, the panchayat results have given her an opportunity to flex her political muscle.

The surprises in the rural result are largely being seen as a vote against the CPM rather than an endorsement of the Opposition but Trinamul did manage to open its zilla parishad account by bagging East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas.

The turnaround is certain to increase Mamata’s bargaining power, which will come into play in the immediate future while striking deals on board formations. In the coming months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the perceived change in Mamata’s status could also have an impact if the Congress and Trinamul choose to explore options for an understanding.

That Mamata was preparing to drive a hard bargain was evident when she told a news conference today: “No one can dictate terms to us. We shall decide whether to form any board with the Congress or tie up with that party in the future.”

Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said the Opposition “would have won more zilla parishads if Mamata had entered into an alliance with us”. But, for the record, Mamata said her party would go it alone in the state.

Mamata did have a word of advice for the Congress-ruled Centre: stop treating the Left Front government as an “exceptional child”.

Mamata described the zilla parishad result as “a vote against the chief minister’s move to grab farmland from the poor in the name of industrialisation”.

She pointed out that East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas had been in the CPM’s grasp since the Left Front came to power in 1977.

The Tatas, she said, “should now move out of Singur”. “The government should now not go to Nandigram, Bhangar and even Nayachar to acquire land.” However, the land on Nayachar, where a chemical hub is being planned, belongs to the government.