Mamata Banerjee thanks people for WB civic poll triumph, says TMC skipped UP contest in 'larger interest'

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Monday was ahead in all the four municipal corporations in West Bengal where polls were held on February 12, as per data available on the State Election Commission’s website. In Bidhannagar, the TMC won 24 of the 41 seats and was ahead in 10, while the Congress won in one ward, according to the SEC website at 11 am. The ruling party clinched 10 of the 47 seats in Siliguri and was leading in three wards, and both the BJP and the CPI(M) have won two seats each. In Chandannagar, the TMC bagged 12 out of 32 seats and was ahead in nine, while the CPI(M) won in one ward. The TMC pocketed 28 of 106 seats in Asansol and was leading in seven wards, the data showed, adding, the BJP emerged triumphant in three wards and the CPI(M) in two. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked people for her party’s thumping win in the civic polls, calling it a victory of the masses. Banerjee also said that the state administration would continue working for the cause of common people. The TMC supremo, who had visited Uttar Pradesh last week to campaign for Samajwadi Party (SP), contended that her camp decided against contesting elections in that state in “the larger interest”. “The TMC did not field any candidate in UP as I did not want Akhilesh Yadav (SP chief) to get weak in any seat. In the first phase, I am hoping Akhilesh’s party will win 37 of 57 seats,” she told a news channel. The chief minister also said that she would be visiting UP on March 3 again to hold a rally in Varanasi. Slamming the Congress, with which the TMC had not been on friendly terms of late, Banerjee claims that no regional outfit share cordial relations with the grand old party. “The Congress can go its way, we will go ours,” she said. Alleging that the country’s Constitution has been “demolished” by the BJP-led Centre, the feisty TMC boss said she had spoken to Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and her Telangana counterpart KCR, and together “we are trying to protect the federal structure”. “I had asked the Congress and the CPI(M), too, to join hands in greater interest, but if they do not listen there is nothing that I can do. I don’t have any personal grudge against anybody,” she added. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.