00:00Show of unity among the leaders of the TMC, a full-on tirade against the Bharatiya Janata Party,
00:06even the CRPF, calling CRPF, the deployed forces, as Goon Bahini of the BJP,
00:13comparing it, many would say, like the Mukti Bahini that was there for the Bangladesh Liberation War,
00:18it's Goon Bahini, CRPF, for the BJP's war, Mamda Banerjee is claiming.
00:23But a lot of other headlines also have come in.
00:25Preeti, that was an interesting lash-out, though, against the centre and BJP.
00:28Well, against the centre and the BJP, the biggest ticking points,
00:32and let's quickly cut across and break those points.
00:34Number one, Mamda Banerjee, like she claimed yesterday, claims that 100 seats were stolen by the EC.
00:41She blames the Chief Election Commission for what has happened, says the centre also played a huge part.
00:47100 seats were stolen is the charge which has been made by Mamda Banerjee, number one.
00:51Number two, the biggest, I would think, takeaway, Pooja, from what Mamda Banerjee has just said in that press conference
00:58is,
00:58that she has spoken to the India Alliance members.
01:02She says she spoke to Rahul Gandhi, she spoke to Sonia Gandhi, she spoke to Akhilesh Yadav,
01:08who's coming to Kolkata to meet her tomorrow.
01:10She spoke to Tejasvi, she spoke to Arvind Kejriwal, she also spoke to Hemant Surain.
01:17But I wonder what will that do, Preeti? How will that help now that she's forming the government anymore?
01:22Is it that we are together in solidarity?
01:24No. See, I'll tell you, the biggest takeaway in that is that she's spoken to all of these leaders
01:28and she says that we have come up with a plan and I will not disclose it just yet.
01:33She says, I'm a free bird now, I am working on something, I have shared it with my allies and
01:38I will not disclose it yet.
01:40So let me get you the biggest takeaways of what has come out of the press conference of the,
01:45now possibly the former Chief Minister, well she's the caretaker Chief Minister till the 7th of May,
01:50till the time where the tenure of the Assembly ends.
01:55So till then, Mamda Banerjee has held a press conference,
01:59she has charged the Centre, the Election Commission of stealing 100 seats.
02:03She also says that the entire India Alliance stands together, we spoke on the phone,
02:08I have a plan, I'm a free bird now, I'm not tied to the Chair of Chief, Minister of West
02:12Bengal
02:12and I will carry on this fight. I do not want to disclose it just yet.
02:17So, opposition unity, a surprising fallout, what many thought, Pooja,
02:22that the whole India Alliance has fragmented at the back of what we had seen over the past two weeks.
02:28She seems to be putting, you know, a position that the India Alliance is very much together
02:35and there is a plan that they have and they have spoken about it,
02:39she will not disclose it yet but they are going to work on that.
02:41She of course, like you pointed out, took on the CRPF and the central agencies
02:45and said that they, and also Pooja, I believe, spoke of post-poll violence against her cadre.
02:52This time alleging that it was the BJP goons, BJP cadre.
02:55The woman on your screen had been able to oust the left rule of over 30 years.
03:00This time, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party, Saffron Sundesh, coming against her rule this time.
03:06She could have become a fourth time Chief Minister, that's not happening.
03:09She is out of her tenure, her stronghold with about 80 seats.
03:132-0-7 out of 2-94 for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
03:17But a lot has happened, political rhetoric is, according to Mamta Banerjee,
03:21it's the BJP goons in cadre indulging in violence, threats, threats of rape against women.
03:27Well, in one line, and let's bring in Indrajit Kundu into this conversation.
03:29Two big points coming out of that press conference of Mamta Banerjee, Indrajit.
03:33First, she says she doesn't accept the loss.
03:36She says this election was stolen, over 100 seats were stolen from the TMC.
03:41Number two, she says the India Alliance is together.
03:44They have come up with something.
03:45She's a free bird now.
03:46She has a plan.
03:47She will fight, but she's not going to disclose what the point is.
03:52That's right, Preeti.
03:53Two very, very important points.
03:55It seems this verdict of the Bengal loss has galvanized the India Alliance
04:01with all the big leaders, the top leaders of the India Alliance,
04:04reaching out to Mamta Banerjee.
04:06I think he suggested that there were calls that were made,
04:08Akhile Shadav and other leaders, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,
04:11all reaching out to Mamta Banerjee, providing their support.
04:15That comes in as a bit of a surprise because Rahul Gandhi,
04:18just a few days back when he was campaigning in West Bengal,
04:21he did launch a skating attack against the Mamta Banerjee government.
04:24But that seems to be a thing of the past right now,
04:26with the entire India Alliance being galvanized.
04:29And though Mamta Banerjee did not reveal much about her strategy,
04:32she said that it would be decided in due course of time
04:37and that a party would, you know, take this forward politically.
04:41She has also formed, she has also formed a fact-finding committee
04:46which will now be traveling across Bengal to document cases of political violence
04:51is what the Toronto Congress Supreme has said.
04:53That's when it becomes, yes, interesting.
04:55She's alleged that there's been threats of violence and worse
04:58against Herkada and women there in Bengal.
05:00But in two decades, this is the time when there has been no death reported
05:05in post-poll violence.
05:06Usually it's literally been in some weird tradition
05:08that had become a post-poll violence after Bengal election results.
05:12Well, that's right.
05:14You know, thankfully in the last, you know, 24 hours
05:16ever since the election results have been announced,
05:19we haven't seen death.
05:20But there have been multiple cases of, you know,
05:23vandalism of the Trinimal Congress party offices.
05:26That's true.
05:27There have been attacks on Trinimal Congress candidates.
05:30Would you just tell us, explain one thing to us.
05:33Mamta Banerjee has rejected this win of the BJP.
05:35She says this election is stolen.
05:37Has she accepted the win though?
05:39Or is she challenging the win?
05:42You know, if one has to make up for what she has just stated,
05:48it's pretty clear.
05:49She said that this is not a win,
05:51that the Trinimal Congress has not lost,
05:53but the election was matched by...
05:58But she also says there's no point complaining
06:00because who do I complain to?
06:02So she's not taking any action.
06:04So she's accepted it.
06:05She's moving on from here.
06:06She's not challenging the win.
06:09Well, you know, Preeti, she is challenging it in a sense,
06:13but she's also challenging the authority of the Election Commission in a sense
06:15that she's saying that this is compromise.
06:18But the big aspect of her press conference,
06:21when we asked her right at the end,
06:23is she going to Raj Bhavan?
06:25Is she going to tender her resignation?
06:26You know, her point blank response was,
06:29no, she's not going to the Raj Bhavan and she said that we did not lose.
06:33Oh, so that's big, Indro.
06:36That is big.
06:37So that means that in all possibility,
06:39she will also take the legal route.
06:40She's decided not to submit her resignation as is protocol after every election.
06:46The losing, if the chief minister, the incumbent chief minister,
06:50if he loses, goes, or even if he doesn't,
06:52goes to give his resignation or her resignation,
06:57she's decided she's not going to do so, Indro.
07:00That's big.
07:00Well, that is the big development coming in, of course,
07:04because, you know,
07:05Mamata Banerjee has categorically stated that she's not going to the Raj Bhavan.
07:09She's not tendering her resignation as of now.
07:11We were very inquisitive.
07:12We have been reaching out to the Raj Bhavan as to whether or not
07:14there have been any communication that has happened from Mamata Banerjee's end
07:18to meet the governor.
07:20But she has clarified that she's not putting in her paper.
07:23She's not resigning,
07:24which means that, you know,
07:26there can be some constitutional, some legal stangle in the days to come
07:31because the tenure of...
07:34So, what do you expect then, Indroji?
07:35The next 24 hours,
07:36there are some prevalent tensions on the ground,
07:39as she's alleging.
07:40She says, I'm not going to tender my resignation.
07:43I'm quoting here what Mamata Banerjee had said.
07:45I will not resign.
07:46I will not go to the Lok Bhavan.
07:48No question of my resignation.
07:50Now, as per protocol, remember,
07:5280 seats, she's the losing side of the TMC.
07:55They will have to go tender resignation
07:56as a caretaker, Chief Minister, right now.
07:59Of course, then the BJP has to take over the government.
08:01So, Indroji, then what do we expect?
08:03Are we expecting only a legal route, street protests?
08:06It's Mamata Banerjee after all.
08:07She understands optics and rhetoric.
08:11Well, you know, from what I can gather,
08:13from what she said,
08:15you know, the little that we understand Mamata Banerjee,
08:17she's extremely unpredictable,
08:19no doubt about that.
08:20That is something which is certain.
08:21But, you know, the tone, the tenor, the mood,
08:24what I can gather is that the Federal Congress
08:26and Mamata Banerjee is defiant right now.
08:30They do not accept this election result, clearly.
08:33They're rejecting this election result
08:35as calling it a manipulation,
08:38calling it a forceful capture, one.
08:40Secondly, she is not tendering her resignation.
08:42She is trying to galvanize the support
08:45of all the India Bloc members
08:47in order to launch a larger protest,
08:50if I can read correctly,
08:51against the Election Commission.
08:54And what she alleges is the interference
08:55and complete catapulting of the Election Commission.
08:58This is her allegation right now.
09:00So there are certain unclear, you know,
09:03stand at this point in time.
09:04We do not know whether this will lead
09:06to some sort of a constitutional legal mess
09:08because she, as the Ketika chief minister,
09:11she ought to, you know, resign,
09:14accepting the verdict.
09:16But if she says that she's not going to resign,
09:18and it is very evident and clear
09:20from the press conference that she did,
09:22that she does not accept this result,
09:25which means that she's challenging this result.
09:28You know, they can actually move court.
09:30Remember, after the Nandigraaf verdict in 2021,
09:34an election petition was filed before the court.
09:36So, these are possibilities.
09:39These are in the realm of possibilities.
09:41We cannot really speculate.
09:42But Mamta Banerjee has kept more questions,
09:47you know, has raised more questions
09:48than giving answers, specific answers.
09:50Stay on with me, Idriji.
09:51Preethi, because this is in complete contrast
09:54to Tamil Nadu,
09:55where M.K. Stalin has accepted
09:57that their side is lost,
09:58submitted the resignation.
09:59The resignation has been accepted
10:00by the governor in Tamil Nadu.
10:02So it's as clear as the protocol is supposed to be,
10:04but not in Bengal.
10:05That's where she has said,
10:06what Tamanerjee said,
10:07I will not tender my resignation.
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