Bruised by the defeat handed to Nitish Kumar and his party JDU in the Bihar Assembly elections, the four-time CM is now planning to jump into the Bengal elections slated to be held in less than six months to heal his fragile ego. According to news reports, JDU is planning to contest elections on 70-odd seats and the state unit has got the nod of party supremo Nitish Kumar to chalk out the strategy.
Gulam Rasool Balyawi, party Bengal in-charge, said that they have been working in West Bengal for the last three years and have now decided to fight elections. “We have been working in Bengal for the last three years and now that elections are coming, we have identified 75 seats where we are ready to field candidates. If need be, we will be fielding candidates on some more seat as well. The Bengal unit of the party has decided to fight elections and was waiting for a final go-ahead from Nitish Kumar.”
Kumar is clearly seeking his revenge from the BJP, however, just like Bihar, his stars seem to have not aligned in his favour. JDU has been maintaining that its alliance with the BJP was confined to Bihar. The party has fought in states like Karnataka and Gujarat without a tie-up with the BJP, which is in power.
The Bengal elections are already seeing a heated tussle between BJP and TMC as the latter is trying to use the state machinery to stomp on the BJP juggernaut that is slowly, yet steadily making inroads in the state. Some added flavour is being added by Asaduddin Owaisi and his party AIMIM. Owaisi’s party is buoyed by its performance in the Bihar assembly elections where it won five seats and emerged as a darkhorse. The party is looking to challenge TMC and it is BJP that is once again looking to reap the rewards of AIMIM poking around.
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Given the fact that the approval rating of Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has taken a beating due to her inept response to the Coronavirus pandemic and a general knack of manufacturing controversies, she is poised to lose her foothold in the state unless TMC pulls a bunny out of the hat which seems very unlikely.
BJP won 18 seats and around one-third of the popular votes in the 2019 general election thanks to the exceptional performance in rural constituencies of the Western part of the state. As Mamata Banerjee loses in the Eastern part of the state and urban constituencies like Kolkata from several seats, her defeat in the next assembly election is all but given.
Since the early 2010s, RSS has been tirelessly working in the state, especially in the OBC and ST dominated areas. Dilip Ghosh, the current President of West Bengal BJP, who was appointed in 2015, comes from Sadgop caste and is from Jungle Mahal region-one of the backward regions of the state of West Bengal.
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JDU, motivated by the sole aim of satiating Kumar’s ego is all set to lose its deposit in the state. Seemingly in the home stretch of his political career, JDU and its leader is allowed to have his share of fun, of course, BJP will be steamrolling his ambitions once again.