"Karnataka Result Spells Beginning Of The End For BJP": Mamata Banerjee

The Karnataka electoral results are the "beginning of the end" for BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed today. She also asserted the moral of the Karnataka assembly poll results is that people "want plurality" and that "no central design to dominate" can repress them.

Congratulating people in Karnataka for their mandate in favour of change, she said that "brute authoritarian and majoritarian" politics has been vanquished.

She forecast that the safforn party would lose in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, too, where it faces off with the Congress, which steamrolled the BJP in Karnataka in results announced on Saturday.

"This is the beginning of the end of the BJP before 2024 Lok Sabha polls. People have voted against the arrogance and intolerance of the BJP.

"I think the saffron party will also lose the upcoming elections in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh," Ms Banerjee told newspersons gathered in front of her house, after seeing off actor Salman Khan who had come to pay her a visit.

Earlier in the day, she had tweeted her ebullient comments after it became apparent that the BJP, her rival in Bengal, was losing in the southern citadel of Karnataka.

"My salutations to the people of Karnataka for their decisive mandate in favour of change!! Brute authoritarian and majoritarian politics is vanquished!! "When people want plurality and democratic forces to win, no central design to dominate can repress their spontaneity : that is the moral of the story, lesson for tomorrow," she said.

As late as March this year, the fiery TMC chief had said she would maintain equidistance from both the BJP and Congress only to change her stance after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP.

After a meeting with JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar last month, Banerjee had formally announced she would be part of a united opposition, including the Congress, which would challenge the BJP in 2024.

Her comments on Saturday are being seen not only as a strong attack on the BJP, but an indirect endorsement of the Congress, as it will take on the saffron party in the other major state elections - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan - before the Parliamentary elections in 2024.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)