BJP unlikely to project any CM face in WB elections

For the next West Bengal assembly elections expected in 2021 April-May for 294 seats, BJP is unlikely to project any Chief Ministerial candidate. This has been indicated by Home Minister Amit Shah before winding up his 2-day visit to the state. Although he is not directly involved in the problem-ridden state’s politics, his talks with the workers and leaders have revealed that he is aware of differences among the leaders over the choice of Chief Minister in the event of the BJP  emerging as the majority party in the elections. He urged workers to remain united without bothering about who should be projected as CM. Some names are being speculated in political circles for eyeing the chief ministership if the party is in a position to form a government after replacing Mamata Sarkar. He seems to have succeeded in convincing some sulking leaders about the necessity for presenting a united fight in the assembly poll. The recent organisational restructuring of the BJP’s central unit has sparked discontent in its Bengal unit as senior leader Rahul Sinha, who was dropped as the national secretary, said that this is the “reward” he got for his dedicated service to the party for 4 decades. Sinha, after serving two back-to-back terms as the state BJP president, was appointed as a national secretary of the saffron party in 2015. His presence with Amit Shah at some important functions during the just concluded Bengal visit indicates he will also be given some assignment for bringing the party to power. In the previous violence marked elections in 2016, the Trinamool Congress headed by Mamata Banerjee retained its majority in the Legislative Assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 3 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and Trinamool Congress bagged 22 seats by polling 40 percent of the vote share. BJP has also increased seats through bye-elections to the legislative assembly to  15 as of 2020. Keeping in mind that elections in Bengal are not contested on the basis of caste and creed but on issues, HM Amit Shah tried to reach out to the neglected sections of the society. They include  Scheduled Castes and  Scheduled Tribes. The Matua community comprising the third-largest SC community in Bengal remains in the BJP’s agenda as an important group of people to help them to storm Bengal to power. They played a major role in helping BJP winning as many as 18 of the  42 Lok Sabha seats. They are also the vote banks being targeted by experienced poll strategist TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee facing multiple problems. Hence, no one can predict who will have the last laugh in the coming assembly poll.