New pitches await BJP's Bansal

The transfer of the services of Sunil Bansal from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana by the BJP leadership is a much thought out plan. In fact it is the culmination of a strategy that the party has adopted to not only woo the voters but also to unite the party rank and file in the difficult times it is facing in these three States.

Sunil Bansal could be called a contemporary in a sense that he has been looking after Uttar Pradesh for the past eight years and has been part and parcel of the BJP designs for the State.

The largest State was no cakewalk for the party nor was there any unity. Moreover, it was known for it's lighting throughout. The party could claim all these things in taking him out of Uttar Pradesh. But Sunil Bansal was also known to be not so cozy with the dynamic Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath.

For that matter, Yogiji is also not known to be very close to the Modi-Shah duo. He is there on his own strength and if Modi is one successful engine in turning the tide in favour of the ruling party, Adityanath is the second engine in cementing the BJP power in the State. So if Sunil Bansal has been successful, it must be in the non-Yogi grouping of the BJP.

In fact, in 2018, Bansal was about to be shifted to Rajasthan as BJP State President, but there was strong resistance to the move and he could not be moved to the State that eventually slipped into the hands of the Congress in the last Assembly elections.

However, West Bengal and Mamata Didi are not easy prey for Bansal or BJP. Mamata has the solid backing of about 40 percent minorities of the State and it requires a herculean task in convincing the non-minority voters. Going by the developments so far in the country there is little to project minority vote split anywhere in the country. West Bengal is no exception.

However, the BJP needs a binding factor and a cool strategist who could knot the ranks together. BJP has planned much ahead to move Bansal to these three States. The party is not only banking on his organisational skills but also on two other factors - tribal vote and the Pasmanda Muslim vote.

Both are good moves by the BJP and if it could split the Pasmanda vote away, its gambit could be said to have paid off. As for the tribal vote, the best bet the BJP has is in Droupadi Murmu, the President. Selection of Murmu was another brilliant move of the BJP and it seeks to benefit both in West Bengal and Odisha (a State from which she hails).

Of course, the image of Trinamool Congress and Mamata Benarjee has taken a severe beating thanks to the ED cases and the crores that tumbled down from the cupboard. This 'cut-money' government of West Bengal is bound to face an embarrassing situation in the next elections and the BJP is all set to rub salt into its wounds.

Bansal will be replacing Kailash Vijayvargiya in West Bengal, Tarun Chugh in Telangana and D Purandeswari in Odisha. Telangana is another challenge for Bansal where it has to cut into both the TRS and the Congress vote for a win. It cannot aim to target only the ruling party here.