West Bengal Chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not be able to cross 200 seats in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Coming down heavily at the BJP, the Trinamool Congress chief said “during Bengal elections in 2021, they (BJP) said ‘200 paar’ but in Delhi (2024 polls) they won’t even reach 200.” “BJP is in power, that’s why they do whatever they want. But they don’t understand power is temporary, chair may come and go but democracy will continue forever. The Constitution will continue forever, there may be some amendments. But this constitution cannot be bulldozed. That’s why they (BJP) will not win the upcoming 2024 election, news agency ANI quoted Banerjee as saying.
Attacking the BJP over stripping of TMC’s national party tag, Mamata said “I will resign if proven that I called Amit Shah over TMC’s national party status.” “My party’s name will remain All India Trinamool Congress,” she added.
Earlier in April, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revoked the national party status of the Trinamool Congress. The Mamata Banerjee-led party did not respond publicly. Following the development, the opposition BJP mocked the TMC.
The TMC was formed on January 1, 1998, after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left the Congress to form her own political party.
After two unsuccessful attempts in 2001 and 2006, the party came to power by defeating the Left Front in 2011, riding the crest of massive public outrage against the communists.
The party, in recent years, has tried to expand its footprint across the country to pose a direct challenge to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, the efforts did not bear much fruit.