Nothing to rejoice, 2019 will be disaster for BJP

Downplaying the BJP's victory in Tripura, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said the BJP will never win West Bengal and Odisha, and dubbed it as "a cockroach dreaming of becoming a peacock by putting on its feathers".

She said the result in Tripura was due to CPM's "surrender" and the "failure" of the Congress to agree to an alliance.

The result could have been different had Rahul Gandhi agreed to an alliance with the Trinamool Congress and local hill parties, she said and claimed the poll results will not help the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in several states.

"There is nothing to rejoice in the win in a state having only about 26 lakh voters and two parliamentary seats with a difference of about only five per cent votes," Banerjee said reacting to BJP's win in Tripura ending the 25 year-long Left regime there.

"The CPI-M has done well in the poll. It is a difference of about five per cent votes only. But the CPM in Tripura had never shown any seriousness to resist the saffron party in that state. I don't know why. We need to analyse this," Ms Banerjee said.

Despite the BJP's success in Tripura, "it will not be possible at all to get through in West Bengal and Odisha. BJP will concede defeat in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Gujarat it was a moral defeat for them," she said.

The 2019 Lok Sabha election would be a disaster for the saffron party and the party would fail to retain power, she claimed.

Banerjee wondered why the CPM "surrendered" before the BJP. "Was it in fear of being blackmailed and harassed by the central agencies?" she asked.

Banerjee also alleged that the BJP has used money power as well as the Central forces to win the elections.