The Suvendu Adhikari-AIMIM combine is all set to tremendously benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal during the all-important assembly polls early next year. Already, it has been confirmed that Suvendu Adhikari is all set to join the saffron party this week. The politically-influential stalwart, previously known as the TMC’s second-most powerful leader, is said to join the BJP later this week in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The TMC, meanwhile, has given up hope of trying to win over Adhikari once again and is now working instead to mitigate the tremendous disadvantage which the party faces due to the man’s grand exit.
As a matter of fact, upon assessing the security threat to Suvendu Adhikari consequent to his resignation as a TMC MLA shortly, the MHA is also working out the modalities of giving him Z-security cover. Given the hostile political atmosphere, the same has been necessitated particularly after the attack by alleged TMC workers on BJP National President JP Nadda’s convoy recently.
Suvendu Adhikari can sway the votes in at least 40 assembly constituencies in the districts of Purulia, Jhargram, Murshidabad, Malda, Bankura, Bishenpur, East Medinipur, and West Medinipur. Given the fact that Suvendu’s areas of influence are some of the Southern districts of West Bengal where BJP is weak, his exit from TMC is a big boon for the saffron party. In the 2019 general election, BJP won most of the seats in the Western region and Northern region of the state but lost badly in the Southern region. It must be remembered that Adhikari spearheaded the Nandigram agitation for Mamata Banerjee. Adhikari’s whole family has a firm hold over their region of influence, which contributes about seven dozen seats to the state assembly.
With Suvendu Adhikari on board, the BJP still needs to split the TMC vote to emerge victorious after comprehensively ensuring Mamata Banerjee’s rout in Bengal. It is here that the Owaisi-AIMIM factor comes to play. The BJP cannot afford to have over 27 per cent of Bengal’s Muslims rallying in the TMC’s favour. Owaisi’s AIMIM will ensure that the Muslim vote is assuredly split between them and the TMC, and perhaps even the Congress. The Muslim community plays a decisive role in 120 out of 294 assembly seats in the state, which is why the AIMIM is focusing on such Muslim-dominant states alone.
Months before the crucial Bengal elections, the BJP is visibly getting its act together and is deploying modern political strategies to democratically overthrow the largely draconian-TMC rule in the state.