Preparations for the formation of new governments in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have begun. TVK chief superstar Vijay will probably take oath as Tamil Nadu CM on May 7, and Himanta Biswa Sarma may take oath again as CM of Assam after May 11.
The new BJP government in West Bengal will take oath on May 9 (Rabindra Jayanti).
On Tuesday, outgoing CM Mamata Banerjee said, she will not tender her resignation to the Governor. She alleged, her party TMC has not lost the election, it was deliberately made to lose and the “main villain” is the Election Commission.
It does not matter if Mamata tenders her resignation or not. A newly elected Assembly will be formed after the winners get their certificates from returning officers.
As far as the new CM is concerned, past experience says, it is a risky job to predict a BJP CM under Modi’s rule, but if Suvendu Adhikari is picked as the new CM, it will amount to rubbing salt into Mamata’s wounds.
Suvendu used to be No. 2 in Trinamool Congress till six years ago, when he joined the BJP. Mamata Banerjee and her police harassed Suvendu for the last six years.
Suvendu as the new CM can make life hell for Mamata Banerjee. There is a saying, an injury caused by a close associate can cause more pain. Mamata is going to feel this pain in the coming months and years.
As far as Mamata’s allegations about rigging against EC is concerned, I have explained in my show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Tuesday night, how in 20 constituencies, where the largest number of names of voters were deleted during SIR, TMC won 12 seats.
If this is the case, how can Mamata say, her party was defeated because of deletion of names of voters during SIR? Before blaming the EC, she must note, there was record 93 per cent polling in Bengal this time. It means, EC did not stop voters from polling.
It will be better if Mamata and her close colleagues sit down and do some serious introspection on the reasons behind the poll debacle.

Opposition unity

One side effect of the recent election results from Bengal, TN, Assam and Kerala is: the nearly defunct INDIA bloc has sprung back to life.
Earlier, Mamata used to claim, only she can challenge Modi. TMC leaders were saying, Mamata should be made the leader of anti-Modi front. However, on Tuesday, Mamata said, now that she is free after the Bengal elections, she would go around the country to mobilize people against Modi and BJP.
Mamata said, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal rang her up and she would now devote most of her time to revive the INDIA bloc.
J & K chief minister Omar Abdullah was quick to point out that this is not the first time such results have come from assembly elections. He said, after almost every assembly poll, opposition parties contest against one another, and after BJP wins, they speak about strengthening opposition alliance.
Omar said, opposition leaders must first decide whether the alliance is meant to fight Lok Sabha elections, or will the opposition fight assembly polls jointly.
A few days ago, at the height of campaigning, Rahul Gandhi said, it was Mamata Banerjee who was responsible for making Modi strong politically. Mamata, on her part, had given ‘Ekla Chalo’ slogan in Bengal, Rahul had spurned TVK chief Vijay’s offer of alliance in TN, and Arvind Kejriwal had described Congress as “BJP’s B team”.
It is now clear that Mamata’s crushing defeat has scared opposition leaders across the political spectrum. They have now realized if Modi can defeat Mamata Banerjee in her fort, he can also defeat other stalwarts in their own bastions.
Opposition leaders have now come to realize that they cannot challenge Modi unless they are united.
As of now, this is nothing but useful thinking. Kejriwal’s party will be fighting the Congress in Punjab, Rahul Gandhi’s Congress will leave the DMK alliance and join Vijay’s government.
If all opposition parties start working according to their convenience, what will happen to “Hum Saath Saath Hain”?
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