One-to-one fight on each seat in 2019, BJP will lose: TMC

Trinamool Congress today claimed that the BJP will be defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by the opposition parties which will join hands for a "one-to- one" fight in each constituency and said the ruling party has already lost confidence of its allies and the people.

Participating in the debate on the trust motion, TMC leader Saugata Roy said the motion was moved by BJP's estranged ally TDP while current partner Shiv Sena, which is part of the government, has boycotted it. Another former ally BJD staged a walkout even before the debate started.

"This showed that the no confidence has already taken place," he said.

In the recently held Lok Sabha by-elections, the BJP has lost most of the seats and was "defeated" in the Karnataka assembly polls.

"I can tell you that the BJP is going to lose the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. There will be a one-to-one fight everywhere," he said.

Roy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lowering public discourse through his public speeches on various issues and claimed that the announcements made on farmer welfare programmes were nothing but "eye-wash".

The TMC leader also claimed that due to demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, 25 lakh jobs were "wiped out" and in return the government could detect just Rs 16,000 crore black money.

In his speech, AIADMK leader P Venugopal accused the central government of giving step-motherly treatment to Tamil Nadu and sought more allocation of funds to the state.

"We are a large contributor to the government's revenue but what we get in return, very little," he said.

Venugopal alleged that Tamil Nadu has been penalised for achieving economic progress and controlling population.

The AIADMK leader asked the government not to bring the Dam Safety Bill without resolving the river water disputes in the country.

Participating in the debate, Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader B Vinod Kumar claimed that the Modi government has not been able to fulfil the expectations of the people.

He said the people of Telangana were annoyed with the Modi government at the outset of its rule in 2014 when a decision had been taken to merge seven 'mandals' of Khammam district of Telangana with Andhra Pradesh following bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Kumar demanded that the seven 'mandals' of Khammam district be returned to Telangana besides seeking financial assistance to implement various welfare projects.