West Bengal Out With The Old Candidates

While the Trinamool and the left seem to be phasing out old hands, the BJP has reposed its faith in strong ground-level leaders

- Rabi Banerjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground came at what could be a turning point in the political history of West Bengal. The March 7 rally saw more than five lakh in attendance and signaled that the party had outpaced the left and the Congress in the state to potentially set up a straight fight with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. That someone as popular as actor Mithun Chakraborty joined the BJP earlier in the day would only help the party dispel the notion that it is an outsiders’ party. “There is an attempt to show this as a fight between the prime minister and the chief minister,” said CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty. “It is a ploy by both sides to polarise voters on the basis of religion.”

The list of candidates for the state elections points to this. While the BJP has no minority candidate for the first two phases, the leftists have allied with the Indian Secular Front of Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui.

The state Congress has been more cautious. It is not happy with the ISF’s inclusion in the alliance and has refused to give it seats in Muslim-dominated Malda and Murshidabad. After the left’s intervention, though, Congress reluctantly agreed to leave the ISF seven seats. This, despite Congress president Sonia Gandhi having greenlighted the alliance.