Mamata Banerjee calls Trinamool meet today

Forty-eight hours after the election results that brought Trinamool Congress's tally in the Lok Sabha down from 34 to 22, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will meet party leaders and all candidates who fought the polls at her home at 3:30 pm today.

Banerjee has not spoken a word after the results, barring a tweet and two poems she put into circulation on social media. At today's meeting, the Trinamool Congress is likely to begin a review of its dismal performance and the challenge ahead for the assembly elections 2021, reports NDTV.

A few leaders who have spoken on the results have said this was a temporary setback and people will be back with the Trinamool Congress by the time assembly elections come around.

"This is an aberration. Things will go back to normal by 2021," NDTV quotes Firhad Hakim, Urban Affairs Minister and Mayor of Kolkata as saying.

Subrata Mukherjee, Trinamool Congress leader who was defeated in Bankura seat, accused the Left of voting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in exchange for money. "This low level politics has to be exposed," Mukherjee said.

BJP's Subhash Sarkar won the Bankura seat, last held by Trinamool Congress's Moon Moon Sen.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) rejected the allegations.

Amiya Patra, the CPI(M) candidate at Bankura, said, "No one has taken any money to vote for anyone. But we were tortured by the Trinamool. Our people saw the only way to escape from Trinamool torture was to vote against it and for the BJP for this one election."

Another Trinamool Congress strategist and a key leader in Birbhum ensured that Banerjee's party won both seats in his district, but lamented the result. "We have done a lot of development work. I am sad the results have turned out like this. We will have to review the situation."

Mamata Banerjee also tweeted a poem titled "I do not agree" themed on unity against "aggression".

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh claimed at least "100 Trinamool leaders are in touch with us". "Keep watching for the next two-three months," Ghosh said.