Mamata shatters red citadel, sets to be WB''s first woman CM

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Kolkata, May 13:Set to take over the reins of West Bengal as its first woman chief minister, Mamata Banerjee steered her Trinamool Congress to a historic and resounding victory, shattering the citadel of the CPI(M)-led Left Front today after 34 years.
Trinamool Congress, with 168 seats, secured absolute majority on its own in the 294-member House and received two-thirds majority with ally Congress which won 42 seats.
The combine is set to secure three-fourths majority as Trinamool Congress was ahead in 16 more seats.
Another Trinamool partner, SUCI, bagged the Joynagar seat in South 24 Parganas district.
On
the other hand, CPI(M)-led Left Front, which had secured 235 seats in the 2006 Assembly elections, put up an extremely dismal show with 37 seats and was leading in three.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and most of his cabinet colleagues tasted humiliating defeat in the election.
Ministers who lost included Nirupam Sen, Asim Dasgupta, Ashok Bhattacharya, Gautam Deb, Kanti Ganguly, Naren Dey, Abdus Sattar, Anadi Sahu and Debesh Das.
The slogan for change (Parivartan) given by Mamata Banerjee swept across the state. Even in red bastion of Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore and Hooghly districts, Trinamool Congress made a dent.
Front major CPI(M) won only 37 seats and was leading in three others. Its allies Forward Bloc secured 10 and led in one seat. RSP won seven, CPI in one and Independent and others in seven seats.
Others included three won by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling district.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee called on Governor M K Narayanan at Raj Bhavan in the evening along with Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee apparently to discuss government formation.
Earlier, the chief minister tendered his resignation to the Governor and was requested to continue till alternative arrangements were made.
Addressing a huge crowd before her Kalighat residence, Mamata dedicated the victory of her party to ''Ma, Mati, Manush'' (Mother, Land and People) and promised to provide good governance and an impartial administration.
She appealed to her party workers to be restrained in victory celebrations and not to be provoked into violence. She also reached out to CPI(M) appealing to its supporters not to get disheartened and maintain peace.
Accepting the verdict, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said the results were ''unexpected''. They said the Front would play the role of a responsible and constructive opposition in the assembly.
There was jubilation after Trinamool Congress'' win with thousands of party workers and supporters gathering in front of the TC chief''s Harish Chatterjee Street residence, dancing, singing and sprinking ''gulal'' to celebrate the victory.
In contrast, there was gloom in the CPI(M) headquarters at Alimuddin street where the party secretariat met to review the poll debacle.