West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee | Photo Credit: IANS

Kolkata: Refusing to give any credit to the BJP for its historic victory in Tripura, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed Saturday's result as "CPI-M's loss" and claimed that the BJP will itself suffer a crushing defeat in the 2019 general elections. Accusing the ruling party at the Centre of showering money in Tripura and using the central forces in its favour during the elections, Banerjee said it is a mystery why CPI-M, that has been ruling the state for so long, did not protest a single issue and completely surrendered.

"It is not BJP's victory but a defeat of the CPI-M (in Tripura). They suffered this loss due to their pride, immorality and total surrender. They have showered money in Tripura like water from a hosepipe, did things with the EVM, took thousands of people from outside states and used the central force in their favour during the elections but the CPI-M was silent all along," Banerjee said, adding if CPI-M would not have surrendered, things could have been different.

"This central government is not governing the country. They are doing barbarism to make their party significant in all the states. This will not continue for long. They will suffer a crushing defeat in 2019 and the Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections later this year, would be the turning point," the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed. She also blamed Congress, the erstwhile main opposition party in the state of complete inactivity in the election and said had they put up a proper fight, BJP would have ended up with merely 10 seats in Tripura.

"I need to know whey the CPI-M did not protest. Their performance is not very bad. There is a difference of five per cent votes. I think it is not a victory for the BJP, it is the failure of the Congress and surrender by the BJP," Banerjee said.

"Certainly there was an anti-incumbency factor as the left front was ruling there for a long time. But if Congress could put up a proper fight, getting four to five per cent vote would not have been a big deal. Then BJP would have had only 10 seats," she pointed out. Taking a swipe at BJP leaders and activists who are emphatic with their win in Tripura, Banerjee said the result in such a small state is not very significant. She further claimed that BJP is suffering wherever they are facing some resistance.

"Some are trying to highlight BJP's victory in Tripura but it is not a big thing. Tripura is a small place with 25 lakh people. A small district like Howrah in West Bengal has more than 38 lakh voters. So there is no point getting overenthusiastic about this victory," Banerjee said. "They could not win in Meghalaya. They have lost in Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan elections recently. They will lose in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka assembly polls and victories in West Bengal and Odisha are beyond them," she added.

Her comments came after BJP Chief Amit Shah claimed the party's golden era would start after they form government in Karnataka, West Bengal, and Odisha, and assured that BJP would certainly form government in these three states in coming days.