Amid her party's significant victory over the BJP in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee hinted that the INDIA bloc might soon take control at the Centre, stating that governments "sometimes last only for a day."
Speaking after a Trinamool Parliamentary Party meeting on Saturday, she announced that her party would not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers, labeling the new government as "illegally and undemocratically" formed.
Banerjee criticized the BJP for having to rely on allies this time, specifically Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JDU, as the party secured only 240 Lok Sabha seats, falling 32 seats short of the majority. She remarked on the BJP's failure to achieve a simple majority on its own, despite previously securing majorities since 2014.
She suggested that the INDIA bloc, which won 232 seats, is closely monitoring the situation and hinted at the possibility of forming a new government soon.
Despite the INDIA alliance falling short of the required majority, its leaders, including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, have indicated their readiness to take appropriate steps to fulfill the public's desire to end BJP rule. Banerjee emphasized that the laws passed by the BJP using "brute force," such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), should be revoked.
Refusing to attend the oath-taking ceremony, Banerjee stated, "We cannot give them best wishes as they are forming a government illegally and undemocratically." She also invited all INDIA bloc members to Kolkata for a meeting, highlighting the prolonged election process in West Bengal, which spanned from April 19 to June 1, and called for changes in the interest of the people.
The Trinamool Congress won 29 of West Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats, an increase from 22, while the BJP's count dropped from 18 in 2019 to 12. During the party meeting, Banerjee was elected chairperson of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party. Sudip Bandyopadhyay will lead the party in the Lok Sabha, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as deputy leader, and Derek O'Brien will continue as the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha, with first-time MP Sagarika Ghosh as deputy leader.