Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday that the BJP has undemocratically and illegally formed the government at the Centre. The national opposition alliance INDIA will ultimately form the government, she said. After a spectacular performance in Bengal, with the party winning 29 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in the state, the Trinamul Congress chief held a meeting with her party’s newly elected MPs at her Kalighat residence. She later told reporters: “The BJP has undemocratically and illegally formed the government at the Centre.

The national opposition alliance INDIA will ultimately form the government.” Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Miss Banerjee said: “Literally, the BJP has lost the general elections this time. Therefore, Narendra Modi should have quit and let some other leader in his party hold the PM’s post.” The BJP leadership had been claiming the NDA would win 400 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats but the saffron party failed to achieve even a simple majority. “INDIA is not claiming to form the government right now but that does not mean that the national opposition alliance will not come in power at the Centre in future. We are waiting and watching,” Miss Banerjee said. “We will intensify our movement in Parliament demanding cancellation of NRC and UCC.

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We have 42 MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha together. We have the third highest number of MPs in the country,” she added. “Don’t sit silent in the Parliament. You have to raise your voice against Modi’s anti-people moves like NRC and UCC,” she told the party’s newly elected MPs. Sudip Bandyopadhyay will be made the leader of the Trinamul Congress parliamentary party while Kalyan Banerjee will be the chief whip, Miss Banerjee said. The chief minister has asked Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen and Nadimul Haque to go to Haryana and talk to the farmers there.

Miss Banerjee also said that there should be changes in the election process, which should be completed within one month, otherwise development works are delayed because of the prolonged election process lasting about two and a half months. While charging that the Election Commission has manipulated the general elections, she said the role of the election observers should also be looked into seriously. Miss Banerjee said the Trinamul Congress will not take part in the oath-taking ceremony of the PM on Sunday in Delhi. Senior leaders like Abhishek Banerjee, the all India general secretary of the Trinamul Congress, Subrata Bakshi, MPs and leaders from the districts were present in the meeting at Kalighat. The TMC will celebrate its victory in the Lok Sabha polls on 21 July, at the annual Martyrs Day observation of the party at Esplanade.