During a rally in West Bengal PM Modi said that 40 Trinamool Congress MLAs were now in touch with the Bhartiya Janata Party. He very confidently expressed that the BJP had already won in the Bengal region and after the counting it would be BJP all across the nation.
PM Modi said, “On May 23, when everywhere will be BJP, your MLAs will dump you and leave. 40 of your MLAs are in constant contact with me. This is all because you breached their trust. It is difficult for you now Mamata Didi,” PM Modi said. He made the statement while addressing a rally in Serampore in West Bengal. The Prime Minster also said that the incidents of violence in Bengal will lead to people voting out TMC.
The Modi wave has now struck the TMC really hard. In the last few months, many TMC leaders have joined the BJP. Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, senior TMC leader, Saumitra Khan joined the BJP. Saumitra Khan was known for being a go-getter person and his suspension from party clearly meant that ‘all is not well’ within the Trinamool Congress. It also helps reinstate the claim of PM Modi. Anupam Hazra MP from Bolpur was also expelled from the party after being accused of “anti-party activities” He later joined the BJP.
Both Khan and Hazra refuted charges leveled against by the TMC. Khan said that he never indulged in corrupt practices and Hazra too brushed aside the allegations saying “I have neither been named in Saradha or Narada scams and neither have I raised money taking Mamata’s name or using my position. My only offence was my posts which the party found offensive and last year itself I had got rid of my Facebook profile”
In the month of June last year, former TMC minister Humayun Kabir joined the BJP. Prior to this, one of the founding members of TMC- Mukul Roy– had also joined the BJP. In another instance, TMC Assam unit chief Dipen Pathak and two other state leaders resigned from the TMC owing to irreconcilable differences with Mamata Banerjee over the draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC). Overall, there is a decisive shift in West Bengal in favor of BJP.
The reasons for BJP gaining grounds have an important observation. 2014 West Bengal Lok Sabha results, BJP secured 16.80% of vote share) and now the recent analysis by C-Voter clearly shows a double hike in the vote share. Furthermore, people in the state were unhappy with Mamata’s anti people policies and are looking for an alternative that BJP could provide. Didi’s pro-illegal Bangladeshi immigrant’s stance has gone on to show how she is more concerned about her vote bank than the well being of the state of West Bengal and its people.
The time is not far the Trinamool Congress will be devoid of might and numerical power that its Chief Mamata Banerjee has been boasting since the start of Lok Sabha elections. The statement of PM Modi is an indication, that there are tough times for TMC ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019.