Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that the party would better it’s showing in the 2026 Assembly elections. She was addressing state and district level party leaders, and workers at a conference organised in Kolkata during the day.
“I know that the BJP government at the Centre will increase its attacks through central agencies (like the CBI and ED) and make bogus accusations against our leaders. However, we shall not only cross the two-third mark but improve our tally in the 2026 elections,” Mamata said.
The Trinamool now sits pretty with 224 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly. The BJP had won 77 seats in the 2021 elections but its number has reduced to 66, primarily due to defections. The national party was also unable to retain seats that fell vacant due to deaths of its elected members and other reasons.
Mamata lampooned the BJP’s call for more than 200 seats in West Bengal and ‘400 paar’ in India and indicated that the party will be washed out in the forthcoming elections.
There is reason behind her confidence. The BJP fared much worse in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls than it did in 2019. This, despite several allegations of corruption and other crimes against top leaders of the Trinamool.
MP Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the party and Mamata’s nephew, also spoke during the party conference and cleared the air regarding reports of a split. He said that he had always known that people like Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy are traitors. Both were top Trinamool leaders before shifting allegiance to the BJP. Adhikari is now the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, having won the Nandigram seat against Mamata herself.
“Some people are saying that I am planning to move to the BJP. Let me assure you that they are rumours. Even if they threaten to behead me, I shall say, Mamata Banerjee Zindabad. However, I would urge all party leaders to shed their arrogance and behave well with the common man,” Abhishek, who is himself facing probes by central agencies, told the huge gathering.
Mocking at Mamata for her claims, Union minister and BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar claimed that the announcement of a better result is nothing but wishful thinking.
“Mamata is scared. She knows that the Trinamool will be trounced in the 2026 elections. Her appeasement policy has now become clear to all and the Hindu vote is getting consolidated in the state. Hence the tirade,” Majumdar said.
