Half bloom

Over-reliance on Trinamool turncoats and Modi's charm cost the BJP in Bengal

- RABI BANERJEE

Having helmed India's cricketing ship through the choppy waters of the early noughties, Sourav Ganguly knows how to make wise decisions. So, when an offer to join the BJP was put forth, he looked before he leapt. “His intuition was right,” said a senior Trinamool Congress leader as counting was on May 2. “He took the right decision as the result is now showing.”

Central BJP leaders, based on internal surveys in the state, had said that the party would cross 200 seats. Such was the bluster that several Trinamool leaders left Mamata Banerjee to join the BJP.

But for those who travelled statewide to gather the on-ground sentiment, it was clear that the villagers of Bengal were holding their cards close to their chests. Usually, such silence would indicate that they would vote against the party in power. Unfortunately for the BJP, this was not true.

But how did a party that led in 121 assembly segments in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections drop to 77 seats this time? While many reasons have been floated, the most prominent was the BJP's over-reliance on Trinamool defectors. Following the impressive performance in 2019, the BJP's central leaders had pumped in a lot of resources into the state ahead of the 2021 assembly elections. However, they seemed to lack confidence in the people who got them success in 2019. The party reached out to ministers and leaders of the Trinamool, many of whom obliged. It seemed as though the BJP was in a hurry to unseat Mamata, and would not mind accommodating most of the turncoats.