Bengal Polls 2021: "A momentous day for India & Bengal," Derek O'Brien tweeted. (File)
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien tweeted a shortest possible recap of the party's route to power for a third term as it established leads over more than 200 seats. The BJP, which aspired to that goal, is currently leading in 70-plus seats. The Trinamool Congress looks set to beat its 2016 tally of 211 seats. The party is currently leading on 215 seats.
Mr O'Brien's tweet was a summation of how the entire might of the BJP was stacked against Mamata Banerjee in this election. The BJP had positioned its enormous election machinery in Bengal, including its star campaigners -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi who held 20 rallies in the state, Union Home minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a battery of Union ministers.
To this, Mr O'Brien had added Election Commission and the central investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
A second tweet from the leader read, "An emotional day after fighting the world's most destructive force, MO-SHA's BJP. Filthy campaign aided by agencies and shameless EC. A momentous day for India & Bengal. It is understandable that we are euphoric but we also know that during #Covid we have to celebrate responsibly".
Ms Banerjee, who was trailing her former aide in Nandigram for the better part of the day, twice appeared outside her home to ask the people to stay safe and go home in view of Covid.
The hurdles for Trinamool started after the BJP, following their sweeping victory in 2014, set their eyes on the state. Then party chief Amit Shah announced a 200-seat goal for the party in the 2016 election. In the event, the party won only three seats.
The goal was set again for this election, with the BJP made confident by their performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls -- the party won 18 of the state's 42 seats. The bitter campaign that started since saw violence and stark polarisation.
Today, as the leads showed the BJP trailing, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh told NDTV, "We fought the election to win, as do all parties, and we will respect the mandate of the people, whatever that may be, when the final results are declared. We are expecting these leads to swing back towards BJP in the next several rounds of counting which are pending".