BJP mocks Mamata Banerjee's offer to quit the CM post as 'drama'

The BJP on Saturday described TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's offer to quit as West Bengal chief minister as "drama" and claimed her government will fall on its own and the saffron party will not need to topple it.

Banerjee offered to quit as chief minister following her party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, but the TMC rejected it.

"It is good that at least she has accepted defeat. But her offer to quit is nothing but a drama to garner sympathy," BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya told PTI.

Reacting to Banerjee's comment that BJP will commit a mistake if it tries to topple her government, Vijayvargiya said it will fall on its own.

He said, "We will not topple it. It will fall on its own. TMC leaders have lost confidence in her. They are fed up. If they come to us and crib about her misrule and authoritarian approach, what can we do?"

Bengal witnessed a saffron surge in the Lok Sabha polls as the BJP inflicted a blow to ruling TMC by winning 18 of total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The TMC won 22 seats, down from 34 in 2014.

Addressing her first press conference after the election results were declared, she Saturday accused the BJP of polarising people on religious lines to garner votes in West Bengal and wondered if some "sort of setting or foreign power" played a role in such a huge victory of the saffron party.