Mamata: ‘Upwardly mobile’

Calcutta, Nov. 10: Mamata Banerjee today said her party’s sweep in the bypolls was “a victory of peace and development over state-sponsored terror and misrule”.

From Delhi, the Trinamul Congress chief said: “It’s time for the CPM government to go as they have lost the right to rule.”

Asked about the CPM drawing a blank, she said: “We contested seven of the 10 Assembly seats and won all seven because of the people’s overwhelming support for us. The panchayat polls (last year) had proved that the CPM had started losing ground. The Lok Sabha elections (this summer) reaffirmed that, with our alliance getting 26 seats (out of 42 in Bengal). The CPM fared also miserably in the municipal polls that followed. How many tests will we have to undergo to prove that the Left has lost the people’s confidence? They have lost the right to rule.”

If the CPM “respects the verdict, it should go” and “those who believe in peace and development should take over.”

Mamata cited her “performance” as railway minister to underline her development agenda. “In 32 years, the Left Front government has not delivered. But in merely four months, just see how many railway projects have taken off. It’s clear from successive election results that the people want us.”

Trinamul snatched Rajganj, near Siliguri, from the CPM. “In south, Trinamul is the principal force, but we have also been doing well in the north of late. We fought well in the Lok Sabha polls in Balurghat, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. Our results were good in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation polls.With today’s victory, we have firmly established our foothold in north Bengal,” Mamata said.

Asked about the Congress’s Goalpokhar setback, the Trinamul leader left it to the ally to comment. “Our alliance with the Congress is intact and our supporters worked for them. However, in North Dinajpur’s Goalpokhar, Trinamul has a negligible presence and the Congress is the dominant force. I would leave it to the Congress leadership to comment (on the defeat).”

A Trinamul general secretary said “many from the Congress now want to join us because ours is an upwardly mobile graph now.”