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“Don’t you think it was outrageous for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do sit-ups holding his ears,” asked a roadside vendor at an eastern Kolkata locality, where you will not find a single BJP flag in a 5-km radius.
Going by the number of party offices and the publicity, it’s all Mamata and Trinamool Congress (TMC) here. But that’s just on the face of it. Inside, the BJP is definitely on the surge.
Sitting at a plush hotel at the other end of the city, BJP’s master strategist Sunil Deodhar said they will win two of the three seats in the city, which will go to poll on the last phase this Sunday.
Deodhar is the National Secretary of the party and was the architect of the BJP’s landslide victory in the 2018 Assembly elections in Tripura.
He was flown in to manage affairs of the three constituencies in the city. However, he is not alone to be given such limited or focused responsibility. Much akin to the idea of “Panna Pramukh” (page in-charge) in Tripura election, the BJP nominated its senior-most leaders to manage polls in small geographies in West Bengal.
The party is confident of a victory similar to that of Tripura “In Tripura, there was silent support from people. But in Bengal, it is open. People are voting against Didi (Mamata),” he said.
On being asked if there is anti-incumbency in State, Deodhar said, “Hundred per cent anti-incumbency.”
But there is little doubt that the party’s mood improved along the course of the seven-phase polls in the State. From initial expectation of eight seats, they are now confident to win over 20.
Over the last few weeks, Modi has proved to be a crowd puller in comparison to Banerjee, that too, in the TMC bastion of South Bengal.
‘The mood of Bengal’
Local administration sources claim, recent rallies of the Prime Minister drew more crowd than those of Banerjee. Reportedly the participation was local and spontaneous.
“No one believed we could win Tripura, leave alone such a big victory. But we did. Wait for a few more days and you will see whether we were correct in assessing the mood in Bengal,” Deodhar said.
For more: Elections 2019
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