Modi magic has faded: Trinamool

Even as the BJP made inroads in West Bengal wining the Basirhat South assembly seat in a byelection, the ruling Trinamool Congress, which retained the Chowringhee seat, Tuesday claimed the magic surrounding Narendra Modi has faded within 100 days of coming to power at the Centre.

Expressing happiness over the poll result, Trinamool national general secretary Mukul Roy asserted his party will bag more than two-thirds seats in the 2016 assembly polls.

"The by-poll results across the country have now proved that within 100 days of its coming to power, the BJP has been losing people's faith in it. The Modi magic has faded and people have voted against this government which has been using central agencies with political motive," Roy told media persons here.

While Trinamool's Nayana Bandyopadhyay won the Chowringhee seat, party candidate and former India football skipper Dipendu Biswas lost out to the BJP's Samik Bhattacharya by over 1,000 votes in Basirhat South.

"Despite the smear campaign by the media and our rivals, people continue to repose faith in Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool. During the Lok Sabha polls, BJP led by over 30,000 votes in the Basirhat (South) segment, but we recovered more than 28,000 of that," Roy said.

"We are confident of not only winning Basirhat (South), but also more than two-thirds seats in the 2016 assembly polls," he added.

With the Congress and CPI-M candidates faring poorly in both constituencies, Roy said both the parties have become "irrelevant".