Mamata Banerjee to take oath as West Bengal CM for her 3rd consecutive term

West Bengal: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took oath as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term. She was administered the oath by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
TMC secured 213 seats in the eight-phased West Bengal Assembly elections while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 77 seats.
“I thank all the people who were looking at the Bengal elections. Our first priority is tackling COVID-19. Secondly, I urge all political parties to look around so that violence to be controlled. From today onwards, I am taking law and order into my hands. I will post the police accordingly to tackle the situation,” she said after taking the oath.
“I will hold a big celebration once the pandemic is over,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Governor said that their first priority is to stop or end the worrisome violence which erupted in the state after the elections. “I congratulate Mamata Ji on her third term. Our priority is that we must bring an end to this senseless violence that has affected society at large. I have every hope that the CM on an urgent basis will take all steps to restore rule of law,” said Dhankhar.
Mamata became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011 by ending the 34-year-long CPI(M) regime, one of the longest-serving elected governments in the world. After ruling the state for two successive terms, the game of thrown of 2021 was not less than a do-or-die situation for her.
It is the BJP that trespassed her dominion after gaining overwhelming results from the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. And, the emergence of the Left-Congress-ISF alliance made the situation more complicated for her.
The TMC chief endorsed her governance as the rule of three ‘M’s, that is, ‘Maa’, ‘Mati’ and ‘Manush’ (mother, soil and people). But, the Bengal elections had another 3M factor this time, that is, ‘Mamata’, ‘Modi’ and ‘Muslim’. So, Mamata’s challenge was to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in Bengal at one side and regain her support base of the minority community that was impacted by ISF and stepping in of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which she did. (AGENCY)