Ending weeks of silence, Mamata praises 'original' TMC supporters for not 'seeking shelter in BJP'

TRinamool u.s. Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on sat wheel spoke after a long hiatus after her party's rising fiasco followers the Bengal poll debacle that ended in her ouster from power after 15 years.In a video message on Saturday, the former chief minister of Bengal reiterated her claim that the BJP won the elections in Bengal by poll rigging and that those associated with the TMC are being targeted in ‘broad daylight’. Track live updates on Mumbai weather “I saw that the BJP came to power by rigging votes. We all know this. They manipulated the EVMs, stole votes, and manipulated the counting process... Such terror has begun that those who support us, those who stand with us, our workers, thousands of them, are being targeted in broad daylight, even when there are no valid cases against them and without court orders,” Mamata said.Mamata's message started with veiled dig at rebels of the TMC who stepped away from the party and joined the lesser-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India on June 14. Also read: Bill for PM, CM removal over 30-day jail, row over Rajnath's ‘lie’ may dominate Parliament monsoon session from July 20“I extend my solidarity, salute, congratulations, and best wishes to ordinary people, grassroots workers, and those from the original All India Trinamool Congress who are still with the party and have not betrayed it by seeking shelter in the BJP,” she said.Silence speaks the loudest, she said over her brief absence over the past few weeks. Mamata's statement comes amid fresh jolt to her party as her loyalist Chandrima Bhattacharya quit the TMC. Mamata aide exits partyBhattacharya resigned from all TMC posts, a day after rebel TMC legislators, headed by Ritabrata Banerjee, on Friday occupied the party’s multi-storey rented office in Kolkata off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, saying they represented the “original TMC.”Also read: Pakistan deputy PM Ishaq Dar under fire over grandson's arrest in gang rape case“I hereby tender my resignation from the post of the state president of All India Trinamool Congress which had been conferred on me in the meeting at Kalighat on June 3. I also hereby resign from all other posts which I hold at present,” Bhattacharya wrote in her resignation letter.She addressed Mamata as the former chief minister and not as the TMC chairperson.Bhattacharya left the party, even though she was recently made the TMC's state president replacing veteran party leader Subrata Bakshi, who was said to be ill. She held portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee-administration including finance, health and panchayat and rural development.