KOLKATA: The BJP is adopting the same strategy used by Trinamool supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee during the 2011 Assembly elections to defeat the Left.
The BJP will hold public meetings at the same venue where Mamata addresses gatherings. In 2011, Mamata had held meetings at the same venue as the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. “Selecting the same venue was the brainchild of Mukul Roy, who was then a close aide of Mamata,’’ said a Trinamool leader in Kolkata.
On Friday, Mamata will address a meeting at Kanchrapara in North 24-Parganas that her party failed to retain in the LS polls.“We will hold a meeting at the same venue on Saturday. This is to show her that her party is losing its support-base and the BJP is gaining grounds. From the volume of the crowd at the two meetings, she will realise what is happening,’’ said Mukul Roy, now a senior BJP leader.
Asked what led the BJP to select the same venue, Roy explained, “Majority of electors did not vote in favour of Mamata. The TMC bagged around 2.47 crore votes in the LS elections while the BJP, Left and Congress got more than 3 crore votes… The statistics are clear that Mamata’s party does not have the support of the majority of the electors.’’