Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called an emergency meeting of leaders of her party Saturday at her home following the stunning saffron surge in the state in the Lok Sabha polls.
“Our party supremo will be meeting victorious candidates as well as those who lost the polls. District presidents and other senior leaders will also be present at the meeting. We will discuss the elections results and take stock of both our weaknesses and strengths,” a senior TMC leader said Friday.
“The results came as a rude shock for all of us. We couldn’t anticipate such a mandate against us. We need to rectify the mistakes and reach out to the masses before it is too late,” the leader added.
Bengal witnessed a saffron surge Thursday as the BJP inflicted a deadly blow to TMC by winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, up from just two in 2014. TMC has won 22 seats down from 34 in 2014.
The saffron party also gave the TMC a run for its money bagging 40.25 per cent of the votes share counted so far compared to 43.28 per cent clinched by TMC.
What will become more of a worry for the TMC is that when Narendra Modi meets with his cabinet Friday evening to select the council of ministers, quite a few faces in that group will be from Bengal. It means they will also be able to carry out development work in the state and make further inroads amongst the populace.
PTI