History Of Mamata Banerjee’s Victories & Defeats: Won Over Somnath, Lost To Suvendu, Emerges Winner Again
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo has with this splendid win also avenged her defeat in Nandigram to protégé-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has by defeating her rival Priyanka Tibrewal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Bhabanipur assembly by-poll by a record margin over 58,000 votes proved that her popularity is no match in the state.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo has with this splendid win also avenged her defeat in Nandigram to protégé-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
READ: Bhabanipur By-Poll: Mamata Banerjee Secures CM Chair With A Thumping Victory Of Over 58K Votes
Besides, she has also ensured to remain on the chief minister’s post for the next five years.
The TMC supremo’s stature in the opposition camp has obviously increased further on the national stage after such a massive victory.
Banerjee, who had earlier crushed the Left’s chances in West Bengal for nearly three decades, prevented the BJP from coming to power in the state in the 2021 assembly elections despite the saffron party’s strenuous efforts.
If we look at the TMC chief’s political history then she has been a charismatic leader, who once stunned everyone by defeating senior CPM leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Banerjee, a seven-time Lok Sabha MP, had earlier handled important responsibilities from the Ministry of Railways to the Ministry of Coal.
The TMC supremo, who has been the chief minister of West Bengal for the last 10 years, had earlier in 1984 defeated Chatterjee by a record margin of 19,660 votes.
She was also rewarded for her feat and made Minister of State for Sports in former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.
However, Banerjee did not like to be a part of the opposition party in West Bengal during the Left regime.
She took to the streets of West Bengal, struggling and suffering injuries and creating a network with her colleagues to help her topple the Left government.
The TMC supremo not only sensed the farmers’ protests against land acquisition in Nandigram and Singur but also used them politically.
Claiming to be the voice of the poor, Banerjee kept targeting the Left and eventually took over the chief minister of West Bengal in 2011.
Even Banerjee popularly known as ‘Didi’ would have not imagined such a splendid win as the TMC alliance won 226 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly in 2011.
The TMC alone bagged 184 seats in its kitty, while the Left was reduced to just 40 seats.
After such a humiliating defeat, the Left has till date not been able to rise again in West Bengal.
In spite of such huge popularity in the state, Banerjee-led TMC won the West Bengal assembly elections held earlier this year, but she had to face defeat.
She had left her traditional Bhabanipur assembly seat and decided to contest from Nandigram against her protégé-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.
The TMC supremo’s announcement stunned several political pundits at that time. Banerjee’s decision definitely benefited her party, but she lost by a narrow margin of 1,956 votes from Nandigram in the assembly polls.
In such a situation, Banerjee after the victory in Bhabanipur has yet again proved that she has no match in terms of popularity in West Bengal.
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