West Bengal: 2016 saw CM Mamata Banerjee eye Delhi

Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee emerged as West Bengal's top newsmaker for 2016 by leading Trinamool Congress to a thumping victory in the assembly polls and later positioning herself at the front of the anti-Modi crusade on the demonetisation issue.

The state government also scored a major victory in the Supreme Court, which termed the acquisition of land in Singur by the previous Left Front regime for Tata Motors' Nano car project as "illegal and void" and ruled to restore the land to the farmers. Banerjee described the apex court ruling as a "landmark victory" for her party.

The year also witnessed the collapse of the under-construction Vivekananda road flyover in which over 20 people lost their lives. The incident led to political mud-slinging with TMC chief shifting blame to the previous LF government.

The state also saw a slugfest between TMC and the foe-turned-friend Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front during the assembly poll.

The Congress-Left combine tried to put up a tough fight by raising the Narada sting operation and the Saradha scam, but TMC had managed to capture 211 seats in the 294-member assembly. 

However, BJP played a spoilsport for the Congress and Left alliance, which ended up with a meagre 76 seats. BJP opened its account by wining three seats. Maintaining its winning spree, TMC also recorded victories in the by-election to two Lok Sabha and one assembly seat in the state.

Having the main Opposition parties decimated in Bengal, Banerjee has chosen to play a bigger role in national politics ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, Banerjee was the first to go all out against the decision terming it "anti-people" and "financial emergency" in the country.

Political observers say the demonetisation gave Banerjee a much-awaited opportunity to try her luck playing a major role in national politics with an eye on the 2019 elections.

To build a nationwide movement against BJP, Banerjee gave a call of putting up a united fight against the saffron party at the Centre. She had even managed to enlist the support of Shiv Sena, an NDA partner which had marched to Rashtrapati Bhavan along with TMC to protest against demonetisation.

In her effort, she kept aside her political differences and even spoke to CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

The TMC supremo did not waste a single chance of taking Modi head-on. She made the deployment of army personnel at toll plazas in the state a major issue calling it a 'coup' by the Centre although the army described it a routine operation.

The year also witnessed the former state Congress president Manas Bhunia leave the Congress and joining TMC. He was amidst a few newly-elected MLAs of both Congress and the Left who deserted their respective parties and joined TMC.