Mamata Banerjee’s “challenge”: BJP won’t be back in power in 2024

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won’t be back in power at the Centre in 2024. The next Lok Sabha polls are scheduled in 2024, and Banerjee said that she was not going to state the reasons or the politics of seat sharing that will lead to the outcome, but she was “challenging” that her prediction would be true.

The Bengal CM was speaking at a programme in Kolkata and lashed out against the Centre and the Central probe agencies while reiterating that anyone at fault would not be backed by her or her party. She was speaking in the context of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting West Bengal Commerce and Industries and Information Technology minister Partha Chatterjee on Friday.

The ED retrieved cash worth Rs 21 crore from the house of Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee last week. The Central probe agency had released a statement which stated: “The said amount in suspected to be proceeds of crime of the said SSC scam.” Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee are in ED custody till August 3.

Mamata Banerjee had earlier said that if someone was at fault, he should be punished and her party does not approve of corruption. However, she criticised the Central agencies for going after leaders of only Opposition parties. Banerjee today said she would draw her conclusions only after the court verdict is out and criticised the way “media trials” were being conducted.