Mamata Banerjee was today unanimously elected as the leader of the Trinamool Congress legislature party at its meeting here.
TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, who was re-elected from Behala Paschim seat, proposed her name which was seconded by all the newly-elected MLAs of the party.
Banerjee later met Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi at Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the new government.
After meeting the Governor, Banerjee said, "May 20 (today) is an auspicious day because it was on this day in 2011 our government took oath after the 'poribortan' (change)... So we have come to meet the Governor and give him a letter on behalf of our party."
TMC leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Bakshi, Saugata Roy and Mukul Roy accompanied her to Raj Bhavan.
Banerjee, who met all newly-elected MLAs of the party at her residence, exhorted them to reach out to the people.
"At the meeting our leader Mamata Banerjee told us to reach out to the masses as their is no place for complacency. She said those who were defeated, lost due to their arrogance and advised us to be down to earth," a TMC MLA who was present at the meeting said.
TMC sources said the party has decided that it would aim to play a deciding role in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"Our aim is now 2019 Lok Sabha polls, so our party leadership has decided that after this year's Durga Puja, we will work towards that. Our leaders will frequently visit Delhi," sources said.
Banerjee questioned why schemes should be run in the
states in the name of the Prime Minister and BJP leaders.
"When the state has to pay for the schemes then why should I run the schemes in the name of their party leaders. Why? Don't we have Tagore, Netaji, Nazrul Islam?," she said claiming that now the Centre has started deciding the state's budget.
"This is total dictatorship. We have been humiliated many times before too. But I had never heard anything like this before," she said.
Attacking the Central government, Banerjee said it should have only four ministries -- finance, railways, external affairs and defence.
According to a memo issued by the Niti Aayog, existing 66 centrally-sponsored schemes have been rationalised into 28 umbrella schemes.
"In 20 schemes the centre-state contribution will be 50:50, while in 6 other schemes the ratio will be 60:40 but the name will be theirs. They are forcing us to do it," she said.
"If they (Centre) interfere into the functioning of the states, there is no meaning of the existence of the state governments. It is a very serious matter," the TMC chief said.
Claiming that the situation in the country is "worse than emergency" now, Banerjee said the Centre's Kashmir policy has failed while its NSG diplomacy was a disaster.
Pakistan issue has become worse because of the Centre's failure, she said.
Few days ago, the union finance minister paid tributes to Netaji on his death anniversary. Are these mistakes or planned actions, she asked.
