'BJP's false claims on violence in state led to its debacle in polls'

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP, Saugata Roy, on Sunday alleged that BJP's false claims about violence in the state had led to its debacle in the state Assembly polls and bypolls.

Reacting sharply to the statement made by JP Nadda, BJP national president at the national executive committee meeting of the party in New Delhi on Sunday that 54 workers of the party had been killed in the post-poll violence in Bengal, Roy said: "BJP is playing the same old damaged record for the past few months. This has been disastrous for the party and is responsible for its poor performance in the Assembly election and in the subsequent by-elections."

He said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had taken stringent measures and no incident of violence had taken place after May 2 when she took her oath in office for the third consecutive time.

The central leadership alleged that many party workers had failed to come back to their homes till date.

The party assured every cooperation, including legal assistance. The last session of the meeting of the national executive committee of BJP was held in 2019.

Political experts said BJP had taken the expansion plan of Trinamool Congress very seriously.

There will be Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur in 2022 and the party has taken the matter seriously.

It was Mamata Banerjee who sent out a pan India message that BJP could be defeated when the party was defeated in the Assembly election in Bengal in 2021. Amit Shah and other leaders had predicted that the party would come to power in Bengal with more than 200 seats. But in reality the party got only 77 seats.

"The party could not digest this debacle," experts said.

They maintained that in the subsequent by-elections, the deposit of party leaders was forfeited.

"Instead of going for self-analysis, Nadda has given credit to the party after its vote percentage went up from 3 per cent to 37 per cent in the Assembly election. However, he did not mention how the poll percentage had slid down in the by-election. Self deception will hit the party very badly," they remarked.