“I was prepared for it, so when they came for me, I wasn’t nervous,” Banerjee wrote in her memoir Paribartan (‘Change’), published in 2012. “I just stared back at them,” she added. Banerjee was hit on the head with an iron rod by a CPI(M) worker, Lalu Alam. Then she was struck on the head again, and again on her elbow. “My head was bleeding profusely, my saree had turned red, but somehow I did not feel any pain, not right then,” she wrote. She became chief of the Congress’s West Bengal unit soon after.
Admittedly this happened when Banerjee, now 71, was four decades younger. But one thing is certain. Always at her best in the opposition, Banerjee will make sure the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that will assume power in Bengal won’t have a day’s peace if she can help it. That will be her politics for the future and the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC’s) — if she can keep her party together. Agitational politics will likely return to Bengal, with all the attendant problems for investors.
Banerjee’s message to her voters as TMC stared at defeat after 15 years in power was: “Do not lose heart, we will win after sundown”.
In Kerala, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has begun looking for its chief ministerial candidate. K C Venugopal, Congress general secretary is credited with suggesting that Rahul Gandhi contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kerala’s Wayanad in 2019 — which ensured that the Congress scion stayed an MP after being defeated by BJP’s Smriti Irani in the party bastion of Amethi. However, Venugopal, while powerful in the organisation, did not contest the Kerala Assembly polls in 2026 and an MLA will have to resign for him to become eligible for the CM post.
The man who orchestrated the Congress’s election strategy, positing it as both a mandate against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP and bringing an avalanche of Muslim and Christian support, was VD Satheesan, leader of the opposition in Kerala for the past five years. The state’s economy, badly hit by a nearly 20 per cent drop in remittances from the Gulf countries after the Israel-US launched a war against Iran in March, will need expert management. This will be the new government’s central challenge.
Tamil Nadu is all set for a new CM: Actor-turned-politician Vijay whose Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is close to the 118-halfway mark but not there yet. D Ravikumar, who represents the Viluppuram Lok Sabha constituency and is a member of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), told Business Standard: “With the TVK — a party devoid of political and administrative experience — poised to assume power, the BJP is likely to attempt the operation of a ‘proxy government’ through the bureaucracy. How the TVK confronts and navigates this challenge remains to be seen”. He pointed out that to reach the majority mark, Vijay’s options remain limited and complex.
Assam and Puducherry have returned familiar faces: Himanta Biswa Sarma has led the BJP to an even bigger victory in the former; and the N Rangasamy-led All India N Rangasamy Congress (AINRC) has returned to power with its alliance partner, the BJP and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the latter. As the TVK has won two seats in surprise victories in Puducherry, it will decide in the coming days whether to support the government or sit in the opposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted messages on social media to congratulate the NDA for its performance in the union territory.
Five Assemblies, many new faces: That is what marks this round of elections.
 "Vijay, TVK")