April 28, 2015
We dedicate our victory to the people of Bengal: Mamata Banerjee
Trinamool today swept the municipal polls in Bengal by winning 71 of the 91 municipalities and 114 wards out of 144 in Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The Chairperson also thanked the electorate of Bengal for coming out in large numbers to vote, braving the bad weather and natural calamities.
She praised Mayor Sovan Chatterjee for the good work in the last five years and expected him to perform even better in the future.
No victory rallies
After the final trends emerged, party Chairperson Ms Mamata Banerjee addressed the press at Kalighat. She dedicated the victory to the people of Bengal and urged party workers not to take out any victory rallies because of the earthquake tragedy in Nepal.
Mamata Banerjee said the victory will be celebrated on May 9, on the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti. She said Trinamool workers will dedicate the huge victory in municipal polls to Rabindranath Tagore through Rabi Pronaam in every block.
Slander campaign of media defeated
She also slammed a section of the media for their slander campaign against Trinamool and said people have the final say in a democracy. “In 2008, there was unabated violence. Many people lost their lives. Several media houses maligned us during elections.Media houses like ABP unleashed slander propaganda against us. They published several false news to defame us. These media houses indulge in baseless personal attacks against us. In other States, they would have been taken to task. I request the media to be neutral. Criticise me if I am wrong. But do not indulge in paid news,” she said.
“Out of 4000 odd booths in Kolkata, complaints came from 15 of booths. One person died in polls, he was our party worker. Opposition cried foul about rigging. Had rigging happened, would our sitting Councillors lose? The channels themselves said we would win 110 seats in opinion polls.People have the final say in democracy. No one has the right to insult them,” she added.
State-funded elections
Mamata Banerjee also slammed the Centre for destroying the federal structure of the country and reiterated her demand for state-funded elections.
