Electioneering is likely to pick up further in West Bengal where polling for next five phases is going to be held from April 10 to 29.
This is largely because the campaigning in rest three states– Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam–and one Union Territory, Puducherry, came to a halt on April 4 evening. Polling is going to take place in all these places on April 6.
Election in the rest 203 Assembly segments of West Bengal is likely to be fiercer as the BJP in particular would be left to concentrate only on this state.
Congress leaders like Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have not yet campaigned in the state. Priyanka has gone on isolation after her husband Robert Vadra tested corona positive last week. Rahul has so far not shown inclination to campaign for the Left Front, Congress and Indian Secular Front candidates. He even did not turn up at the Brigade Parade Ground joint rally in Kolkata on February 28. He may later, as a symbolic gesture, address a few election meetings only for Congress candidates.
Several party insiders are of the view that Rahul is not keen to mar the poll prospect of the Trinamool Congress in the state. After the March 28 letter written by Mamata Banerjee to former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and 13 other different party leaders, the Grand Old Party’s central leadership has further redrawn its strategy.
Meanwhile, on April 5, BJP President J P Nadda held a big roadshow for the party candidate in Tollygunge, Babul Supriyo. Here, actress Jaya Bachchan also campaigned on the same day for TMC candidate, Aroop Biswas.
In the days to come, the BJP bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah would step up their campaign in the state. On the other hand, the TMC would be largely left to fend for itself.
