BJP lays foundation stone for a harder duel in Bengal

KOLKATA: While the Bharatiya Janata Party entered the eastern political theatre with a magnificent victory in Assam, the saffron brigade laid the foundation stone for a harder duel in Bengal, which blips louder on the BJP radar. The BJP won not too many seats but increased its tally from just one to three. The significant part was its vote share which had dropped to around 6% in the last Lok Sabha polls and shot up to secure about 10.2 % in the Assembly polls.

The BJP's battle strategy was quite evident in Bengal. It was not fighting to capture power in the state but wanted to lay the foundation for a 2019 all-out fight in the Lok Sabha polls when Modiji will be seeking a second term in office. While the fight is still three years away, the BJP poll results make an interesting study.

The party won three seats ­Kharagpur in West Midnapore, Madarihat in Jalpaiguri and Baishnabnagar in Malda.Significantly , Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in Kharagpur and Madarihat after which the party's fortune changed rapidly in those seats, said party insiders. BJP candidate Manoj Tigga won in Madarihat with a margin of 22000 votes while BJP state president Dilip Ghosh emerged as a giant-killer by defeating a ten-term Congress MLA Gyan Singh Sohanpal.

“With the entry here, it can be said that people are looking for an alternative. We will build our organisation on this,“ said Siddharth Nath Sigh, BJP national secretary in charge of Bengal.