Didn't want to see them as zero: Mamata Banerjee on Left's performance in Bengal

"I am opposed to them politically but I don't want to see them as zero," said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressing a press conference on Monday.

As Banerjee stormed back to power in Bengal by defeating the juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) settled to become the main opposition in the state by winning 77 seats.

Banerjee, however, said she preferred the Left as the main opposition in the state Assembly over the BJP.

"If they had won seats instead of BJP it would have been good," she said.

However, she also did not miss the chance to slam them for such huge penetration of the saffron brigade in Bengal politics.

"In their over zealousness to favour the BJP, they have sold themselves and become a signboard. They have to think about this," the Chief Minister said who will take the oath to the office for the third time on Wednesday.

This will be the first time since Independence that there will be no Left or Congress members in the 294-seat Bengal assembly.

In the electoral verdict of the people, Banerjee's TMC, a key regional satrap, got a straight third term in the state winning 213 of 292 seats (two seats due to be polled), even bettering its tally of the last assembly elections held in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Left, Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF), which had stitched an alliance hurriedly before the polls, drew almost a blank as only ISF won a seat in South 24 Parganas district.

Several Left leaders have blamed the party leadership for entering into an alliance with the ISF, which according to them was responsible for the catastrophe.

Many Left leaders also feel that Bengal saw an anti-BJP vote which made the Trinamool Congress's ground even more solid as several Muslim votes even in districts as Malda and Mushridabad, which were Congress stronghold, went to TMC this time.