The situation of TMC ahead of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 2021 is dire and many leaders are not even agreeing to contest on the party ticket. According to reports, TMC MLA from Bardhaman Dakhin Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, who is a former minister for the departments of Technical Education & Training and Science & Technology & Biotechnology, has refused to contest the election on health issues.
The condition for TMC is similar to that of Congress in 2014 when many senior leaders like Manish Tewari and P Chidambaram did not contest the election due to fear of losing badly and anticipating the end of their political career. Similarly, the veteran leaders of TMC are refusing to contest in the 2021 assembly election due to the fear of losing badly.
The leaders who do not want to jump the ship but are very sure that they will lose badly if they contest on TMC ticket, have simply refused to contest. In the last few months, TMC has witnessed many waves of an exodus of leaders due to internal chaos in the party. Moreover, the senior leaders, especially those who have ministerial positions in the current government, do not wish to bet on TMC.
A few weeks ago, sports minister Laxmiratan Shukla said resigned from the position and sought a voluntary exit from the party.
Mamata Banerjee’s antics have been a cause of concern for the TMC leaders. From Hamba Hamba Ramba Ramba to refusing to speak during union government’s event, and Ka Ka Chi Chi, many times Mamata Banerjee has put her party-men in a spot.
Mamata Banerjee: Hamba Hamba ramba ramba kamba kamba dumba dumba bumba bumba Kamba Kamba
PM Modi should provide best possible treatment for Mamata Didi after winning Bengal.
— Atul Kumar Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) February 10, 2021
A few weeks ago, five of its leaders jumped ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Among those who embraced the saffron fold was State Minister Rajib Banerjee, who only recently resigned from the post, and subsequently gave up on the primary membership of the TMC.
“Mr Amit Shah called me up and said he would like to handover the flag to me himself, so he is sending down a chartered plane to fly me to the capital,” said Rajib Banerjee, former Forest Minister of West Bengal. The other four rebels which were accompanied by Rajib Banerjee to Delhi were Trinamool MLA from Bali, Baishali Dalmiya, Uttarpara MLA Prabir Ghoshal, Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty, and former MLA and five-term civic chief of Ranaghat Partha Sarathi Chatterjee.
Prior to that, a heavyweight who could swing election on at least 40 seats, Suvendu Adhikari, quit TMC to join the saffron party.
BJP is mounting a serious fightback against Mamata’s tyrannical rule and the recent history proves that the ordinary Bengali folks are looking for alternatives. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP pulled a bunny out of the hat by winning 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and crossed the 40 percent vote share mark, a 23 percentage points jump from its 2014 performance.
Therefore, with big TMC leaders resigning and changing flanks, the voters will believe that all is not well within TMC and prefer to vote for a much stable option in BJP. Even the leaders who are not jumping the ship, have refused to contest on the party ticket to save themselves from the humiliation of losing the election badly. The election season is charging up and it is BJP that is calling the shots at the moment.