BJP slowly gaining ground in West Bengal

Kolkata: The Delhi election results have left the BJP shell shocked. The party was sure of riding the Modi high tide again, but the verdict that emerged showed a different picture.

But let us not try to write off the BJP right now. The just ended by polls in West Bengal tell a different tale, if one were to read the election results carefully.

While the BJP shed no tears for losing either the Bongaon Lok Sabha or Krishnaganj assembly seat, it found solace in the fact that its efforts are paying dividends in drawing the voters closer to the party.

Prior to 2011 the BJP had no face in West Bengal. Mamata Didi had eclipsed all leaders and drove the other parties into oblivion. The BJP had slowly worked up its way in to the minds of the people, as Mamata turned to maverick ways of governance. Her mercurial temper and off the cuff utterances did not find favour with some sections of the people.

The TMC cadres too went on a spree of violence in several districts of the state and as CPM is unable to counter the onslaught, people are looking forward to find an effective alternative or even a strong opposition to Trinamool Congress. Therefore the fortunes of the BJP seem to be rising. In the Krishnaganj constituency of Nadia, BJP’s vote share which was a mere 3.09 per cent climbed to 29.53 per cent and in the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency it increased from 19.06 per cent to 25.40 percent since 2014 elections.

The BJP came second in Krishnaganj and a close third in Bongaon. It is the only party whose vote share has increased considerably. All the others including Trinamool Congress have lost their vote share since last elections. The BJP national secretary Siddarth Nath Singh said that the state BJP unit "still needs to keep its head down and work harder for the final battle" in the 2016 state assembly polls.

"We may have lost the polls but we have been able to increase our vote share since last few polls. We will try to improve our performance on it," state BJP president Rahul Sinha said after the poll results were declared on Monday.

Amit Shah the tactician’s game plan may not have worked in Delhi, but here the party is drawing out a full scale war map to scuttle the TMC.

They are at present using the disgruntled Left leaders to garner support, but ultimately they plan to lure in the core of Mamata backers and grab the TMC vote bank.

BJP will not let go an opportunity to damage Mamata’s governance and reputation. From now on for the BJP it is target TMC, grab West Bengal.