West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the TMC's victory in the Assembly by-polls was in favour of "secularism and unity" and a "mandate against NRC". The TMC chief said, the BJP is getting paid back for its "arrogance" and for "insulting" the people of the state, after the party won two seats and took an unassailable lead in another.

Tapan Deb Sinha of the TMC won the Kaliaganj seat by defeating his nearest rival Kamal Chandra Sarkar of the BJP by 2,417 votes, EC officials said. TMC candidate Pradip Sarkar won the by-poll to Kharagpur Sadar seat by defeating BJP's Prem Chandra Jha by 20,788 votes.

The ruling party has also taken an unassailable lead in Karimpur with its candidate Bimalendu Sinha Roy leading over BJP's Jay Prakash Majumdar by over 23,000 votes.

"We dedicate this victory to the people of Bengal. This is a victory in favour of secularism and unity and is a mandate against NRC. The BJP is getting paid back for its arrogance of power and for insulting the people of the state.

"This mandate is against the politics of arrogance and people have outrightly rejected the BJP. They want to turn legal citizens of the country into refugees and send them to detention centres," Banerjee told a TV channel.

The CPI(M) and the Congress, instead of trying to strenghten themselves, are helping the BJP in West Bengal, Banerjee said.

Critricising the central government for failing to generate employment and pursuing politics over religion, Banerjee said the mandate in the recent elections in Maharashtra and Harayana, where the BJP failed to get the majority, and the Assembly by-polls in the state is a reflection of "people's anger" against the BJP.

"The countdown has started. They are not interested in generating employment or development. They are more interested in dividing people over religion and threatening others," she said.

The BJP should not think that the people of this country will accept their "bullish tactics" of forming governments in states despite not having the majority, she said. PTI PNT MM MM