KOLKATA: Bengal BJP has decided to go all guns blazing against the ruling TMC on alleged poor governance and corruption-issues ahead of the upcoming Bengal Assembly elections.
It seems the BJP has decided not to accept Left Front (LF) and Congress as its enemies ahead of crucial 2021 Assembly elections as the saffron camp’s high command directed the Bengal functionaries not to hit out at CPM and Congress in poll campaigns as it would give them priority which might cause a dent on the anti-incumbency vote bank.
BJP leaders in Kolkata said the strategy has been adopted to consolidate anti-TMC votes in the favour of the party. "If we talk much about CPM and Congress in our campaigns, it might give Bengal electorates as an impression that the two political parties are going to emerge as a potential threat to us. Since the two parties are likely to form an alliance in the upcoming election, the impression might cause a split in anti-TMC vote bank which ultimately will go against us," explained a BJP leader.
Pointing out another reason for the strategy of ignoring the LF and Congress, the leader said, "Thousands of grassroots level CPM workers and functionaries shifted their political alignment and joined the BJP. If we hit out at the CPM at the booth level, it will send a message that we are accusing those who are now in our fold."
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the LF suffered massive erosion in its vote share as it came down to 6.34% which was 16.66% less than its electoral strength in previous elections. The Congress vote share was 5.67% which was 4.03% less than its previous strength in previous elections.
"The LF-Congress alliance will not be able to bag a single seat in the upcoming Assembly elections. Why should we misuse our energy by attacking them? Our enemy is the TMC and we will not leave a single stone unturned to showcase the state government’s massive failure to provide good governance," said BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh.