Buddha set to resign after humiliating defeat

Kolkata: It’s the beginning of an end. After a long continuous rule, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has now offered to resign. He may tender his resignation, maybe, sometime in the afternoon. During the counting of votes, the CM himself at one point was trailing Trinamool Congress candidate, Manish Gupta, a former chief secretary, in the Jadavpur constituency. In her first reaction to the election leads on Friday, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said it’s an unprecedented win. “We are thankful, humbled. Democracy has won,” she added. Trinamool Congress-led alliance appears set to sweep West Bengal, AIADMK-led coalition looks well ahead in Tamil Nadu, while there is a close fight between ruling LDF and UDF in Kerala in the counting of votes in the assembly elections in four states that began today. In Assam, the ruling Congress appears to be emerging as the single largest party in contention for a third successive term, while in Puducherry also it looks headed for a third term. [caption id=“attachment_9232” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will resign on Friday after his Communist party lost in the Assembly polls. Jayanta Shaw/Reuters”]  [/caption] In Bengal, the Left Front is leading in 70 seats. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK appears to be on the way out of power with J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK alliance ahead in 159 of the 234 seats. The DMK-Congress alliance was ahead only in 44. Kerala has witnessed an interesting duel between the ruling Left Democratic Front led by CPI(M) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front. The UDF is ahead in 73 seats in the 140-member assembly. The LDF was leading in 65. In Assam, Congress was ahead in 50 seats, BJP and AGP leading in seven seats each and Bodoland Peoples Front leading in five seats. In the 30-member assembly in Puducherry, DMK-led alliance was ahead in 10 seats while AIADMK was leading in five. PTI

In her first reaction to the election leads on Friday, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said it’s an unprecedented win. “We are thankful, humbled. Democracy has won,” she added.