Rahul gave oxygen to BJP in Tripura: Didi

Behind the veneer of a programmed nonchalance, Mamata Banerjee on Saturday gave ample display of nagging nerves even as a possibledomino effect of Tripura Assembly election results sent chills down the Trinamool Congress’ spine in Bengal where most of the ruling party leaders, save a few, maintained a stunning silence.

The first thing the Bengal Chief Minister did was to deny the BJP thecredit of victory and blame directly Rahul Gandhi for offering BJP the required “oxygen.” She claimed despite her repeated requests to the Congress president, for a broad-based alliance in Tripura taking tribal outfits into consideration Janpath turned down her offer.“I approached Rahul Gandhi with an offer to make an alliance including the tribal outfits in the hills but my offer was ignored and turneddown. Now this is up to the Congress to explain the reason behind giving oxygen to the BJP,” Banerjee said even as some critics saw in her statement a hidden message to the minorities outside Bengal.

“When a shrewd person like Mamata Banerjee says something she does notdo so without an agenda. Her statement may be aimed at the minorityvoters outside Bengal that still hold trust on the Congress for 2019,”said a political analyst who was once a Trinamool member.

In a surprisingly softer words for the Left Banerjee said it would beunwise to lay all the blames of defeat at CPI(M) door. Despite itshands down defeat the CPI(M) had “managed to win more than 45 percentvote which is huge vote,” in the present wave-like situation she said,adding in the same breath however that the Marxist “arrogance led totheir down fall.”

She maintained “it is not the BJP’s victory but Left’s defeat despitethe fact that they have performed sufficiently well against the wavecreated by publicity, money power and lies.”

Banerjee had a couple of days ago told the Left Assembly Party LeaderSujan Chakrabarty that she would be happy if the Left could win inTripura because CPI(M)’s win was better than the BJP’s.

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders in Bengal including Dilip Ghosh and MukulRoy, said after Tripura it was the turn of Bengal. “Mamata Banerjeeshould get ready for her defeat which will start from the panchayatelections,” Ghosh said while Roy held by the Trinamool as mainarchitect of BJP’s defeat in Tripura by transferring the wholeTrinamool vote bank and leaders to the saffron party said “after herstatement in the Assembly preferring a Left victory to BJP's MamataBanerjee should now take the moral responsibility of its defeat inTripura.”