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Shah redraws Bengal roadmap, eyes 2019 LS polls

Annoyed with the party’s languid and lethargic levels of pre-poll preparation in Bengal, Shah seems to be concentrating more on the 2019 Lok Sabha poll rather than the upcoming polls in the state. 

Feeling the heat of Mamata’s pre-poll onslaught in Bengal, Shah during his “Mahasampark Abhiyan” in Kolkata on Tuesday, emphasised the hard work of the workers and said, “Till we don’t have the information of all 11 crore members in party computers and the party’s ideology in their hearts, the fruits of the hard work achieved so far will go waste.”

“In 2014, BJP’s road to power in New Delhi was through Lucknow but in 2019 the party’s road to power in New Delhi has to be through Kolkata.” a senior BJP leader quoted Shah as having said at meeting in Howrah on Tuesday.

On edge over next year’s upcoming polls,  and lacking faith in party leaders like Sidharth Nath Singh and Suresh Pujari, who were till now the in-charge of Bengal’s election affairs, Shah was forced to made Kailas Vijayvargiya-a senior Minister of Madhya Pradesh-as election in-charge of Bengal. Singh and Pujari were demoted to the designation of co-in-charge.

Many political experts feel that Shah’s organisational prowess is above and beyond any doubt, especially after winning 73 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The scenario in <g data-gr-id="29">Bengal however</g> is different. The BJP seems to be beset with many ills in the state whether it be the organisational weakness, lack of a credible, homegrown Bengali face. 

The strong rural vote bank of Trinamool Congress(TMC) and relatively low level of caste politics will make the task of cornering TMC in Bengal an onerous one.The other reasons behind BJP’s worries are - the state unit still does not have a ground-level presence or for that matter dedicated foot soldiers in Bengal. 

In the last Lok Sabha elections, despite the Modi wave -a lack of dedicated cadres translated into a lack of votes. BJP won a paltry two seats as compared to the 34 secured by Mamata.Given that in Delhi the party was effectively whitewashed, there is a lot of pressure on the incumbent party president Shah. The party which was pinning its hopes on state president Rahul Sinha and singer turned MP Babul Supriyo are no match when it comes to Mamata’s popularity.

 <g data-gr-id="68">Meanwhile,TMC’s</g> rural <g data-gr-id="69">vote-bank,</g> is still intact and will play a decisive factor in the upcoming elections. The BJP might try to tap the urban votes but that will not serve their purpose as far as winning a large share of the pie is concerned. <g data-gr-id="67">Analysis</g> shows that the future political trend seems to be inclined more towards TMC winning a clear mandate in the upcoming elections.

In the past one <g data-gr-id="66">year</g> the BJP has undoubtedly gained ground in West Bengal but its vote share is around 17 percent as compared to TMC’s whopping 39 percent. With these facts and figures in mind, the BJP is hoping for a miracle to make inroads to “<g data-gr-id="64">Nabanna</g>” - the state secretariat.
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