Murshidabad, May 5 (IANS) Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) Chief Humayun Kabir, who sweeped through both his contested seats in the West Bengal Assembly polls, on Tuesday took a jibe at the Trinamool Congress. Referring to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kabir said that there is only one “chief” or “post” in the Trinamool, the others in the party are just ‘lamp posts’.

A day after Kabir won from both the Nowda and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies, he told IANS that he will vacate the Rejinagar seat and will make his son contest the bypoll.

“People here consider me as their guardian,” the AJUP Chief said.

The BJP registered a decisive victory in West Bengal, with the Trinamool Congress being reduced to just 81 seats.

Taking a jibe at the Trinamool Congress’ defeat, Kabir said: “The Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) has been defeated. There was only one chief in their (Trinamool Congress) team, others did not have a post. There was only one post, others were lamp posts.”

The AJUP Chief said: “When the post has lost, the lamp posts will also fall.”

Kabir accused the Trinamool Congress of being “drowned” in corruption during its reign in the last five years.

“They (Trinamool Congress) were engaged in some wrongdoings when they retained power in 2016, but its impact was not felt in the 2021 Assembly polls because people did not have an alternative then,” he said.

The AJUP Chief accused the Trinamool Congress of taking the public for granted.

Kabir compared the Trinamool Congress’ defeat to that of the CPI(M)-led Left front in 2011.

The AJUP Chief said: “In 2011, several Ministers of the then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Cabinet had lost. The same thing is happening after 15 years. Now, Mamata Banerjee, along with several of her Ministers, has lost.”

Attributing Trinamool’s defeat to corruption, Kabir added: “This time people did not have an alternative other than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress does not have any organisation here. The CPI-M was also zero.”

“Mamata Banerjee had said that her government is for ‘Maa-Maati-Manush’, but they did not do anything for ‘Maa’ (women) and ‘Mati’ (land) in the last five years. This defeat is the result of this,” he added.

However, Kabir expressed his disappointment on Mamata Banerjee losing her Bhabanipur Assembly seat to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

The AJUP Chief said: “It is sad that a senior politician (Mamata Banerjee), who is also a former Union Minister, has been defeated again. This is how the people’s mandate works.”

In 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls too, the Trinamool Congress supremo was defeated by Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. She had then contested and won the Bhabanipur bypoll.

Kabir exhibited hope that the new BJP government in the state would work for the welfare of the people.

“If they (BJP) also indulge in any wrongdoings, I will protest against them, too, and take it to the common people.”

–IANS

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