New Delhi, Jan 25 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will have an electorally disastrous year in 2021 in at leas three states, the Trinamool Congress said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Trinamool leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy said that the BJP has "very little chance" in three of the four states going to the polls later this year.
O'Brien said the BJP will receive a severe jolt in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, while it will witness a close contest in Assam.
"The big election is in 2024. Before that in 2021, thanks to the blessings of the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala, the BJP will lose three elections," O'Brien said.
Commenting on Assam, which is also slated to go to the polls later this year, O'Brien said that as per their understanding, the BJP will face a tough contest.
"I can tell you that BJP's chances are low in three poll-bound states Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bengal," he said.
Commenting on the 2024 general elections, O'Brien said that "the idea of India, as envisioned by the makers of our Constitution, would be at stake in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections".
"The results of the Lok Sabha elections will determine whether India would continue to remain a secular and socialist country," he said.
To a question on the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 general elections, the Trinamool MPs said that they would not like to reveal their strategy at this stage.
"First ask the BJP who they are going to project as their candidate for the post of Chief Minister in the West Bengal Assembly elections," O'Brien said.
On asked whether the results of the Assembly polls in Bengal have already been decided, O'Brien said, "I don't think we said that. We said we know whom the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala will bless."
The Trinamool leaders also said that they are not arrogant, and "we are not so cocky to assume that the elections are over".
"We said we believe that the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala will bless non-BJP governments in these three states," they said.
When asked what makes them so confident, both the leaders said that it is the same confidence that a good student gets after studying hard through all the semesters before appearing for the exam, as opposed to the student who wants to come two to three months before and try to top the class with a little hustle and bustle.
"There is no arrogance or cockiness. This is about humanity, about believing that we have done a good job under Mamata Banerjee for the last five years, so we will be abundantly blessed," they said.
To a question on 1,000 companies of paramilitary forces to be deployed for the Assembly elections in Bengal, Roy said, "It is up to the Election Commission to decide and then arrange the deployment in consultation with the Union Home Ministry. All we want is that the BJP or the central ministers should not be going around saying so much security personnel are being deployed in West Bengal for the elections, or they will teach a lesson to Trinamool, and so on."
( With inputs from IANS )
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