New Delhi: Like in Bihar polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the main face of BJP in the West Bengal Assembly elections. The visits of other party leaders will be curtailed and the focus will be on PM Modi, once the electioneering peaks in the state.
According to sources, PM Narendra Modi has taken full control of the party’s campaign in West Bengal. All the leaders have been given some instructions to follow from candidate selection to the voting of the last phase. All the BJP leaders have been asked to speak cautiously.
The BJP will be seeking votes on the achievements of the Modi government. There will be a separate and different strategy for every single phase. The party will be eyeing more and more youth and women voters. Strategists believe that TMC will be in trouble if youth and women vote for BJP in large numbers. There is no denying that the BJP is in direct fight with TMC in Bengal. Both the TMC and the Congress-Left alliance are targeting the BJP.
It was BJP’s well planned strategy to be in direct fight with the ruling party TMC in West Bengal. With this, the saffron outfit got a strong base in the state. Secondly, the party also managed to broaden its support base among the majority community. As a result, TMC saw several desertions by its many senior leaders. TMC chief, Mamata Banerjee’s obsession with her nephew also led to desertions.
Sources told The Sunday Guardian that several big faces like Mithun Chakraborty and Sourav Ganguly and some TMC MLAs will be seen during the PM Modi’s Kolkata rally today. Some big leaders of TMC and other personalities may join the BJP on this occasion as well. PM Modi will set the agenda from his Kolkata rally for the campaign to be run next one and a half months in Bengal. BJP believes that Mamata Banerjee will be more aggressively playing the emotion card of “Bengal ki Beti”. The party strategists are sure that PM Modi will be able to counter this card effectively, with the result that women and youth of the state will be attracted towards the BJP.
It is said that PM Modi will be showcasing his big decisions such as abrogation of Article 370, NRC-CAA, Ram Mandir, etc. He will also be raising issues like Durga Puja, Pakistan and corona. BJP is said to have made up a plan to raise different issues in every phase of voting. Farm laws and price rise are the two major issues which the BJP is cautious about. However, these issues do not appear to be creating much of an impact in Bengal elections.
If BJP does not perform well in Bengal polls, then the Opposition will get more fire power. Significantly, UP polls are also to be held after 10 months. Then, the BJP will have to work harder in Hindi belt states. What, however, augurs well for BJP is that the Opposition is divided in every state like West Bengal. Therefore, BJP is confident of a positive result for it in the state. The strategy is to convert the Bengal polls into a Modi versus Mamata contest.