With Bharatiya Janata Party announcing a poll alliance with Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on Monday, the election scene in West Bengal is gaining momentum.
GJM is the strongest political force in the hills demanding statehood for Darjeeling, and has a following in the adjoining tea-growing areas of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.
This is definitely not the first time GJM is supporting BJP. Ever since the separatist movement surfaced in the hills in the mid-80s, the support of GJM was crucial to win elections in Darjeeling. BJP’s Jaswant singh won the seat in 2009 with the support of GJM.
The political reality in the hills has undergone some changes in recent months, with Trinamool claiming stake in GJM’s support base. Also, the Darjeeling-based party lost some of its key allies (Adibashi Bikash Parishad) in the plains.
To step up the power game, Trinamool fielded former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia, a Sikkimese, as its candidate from Darjeeling. The ploy was to use Baichung’s popularity to force GJM to support the party.
But, the GJM took it as a threat to its existence. The party will now go all out against Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
“There will be contest for Darjeeling seat. Butwe will win,” GJM General Secretary told Business Line.
Changing equation The State BJP leadership is hopeful that the alliance will made a difference in at least two more constituencies of Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri in North Bengal.
BJP got 21 per cent and 9 per cent of the votes polled in the respective constituencies in the last elections, when its overall vote share in the State was as low as four per cent.
“The 2009 election was fought amidst political polarisation (between Trinamool and Left Front) in West Bengal leading to a drop in BJP’s vote share from an average of six per cent. This year we expect the total vote percentage to go up by at least three times,” says Tathagata Roy a senior leader of the party. BJP scored the maximum with 12 per cent votes in West Bengal in 1991.
GJM’s support apart, BJP is hopeful of improving vote share in Balurghat, also in North Bengal, thanks to the role played by the RSS.
In 2009, the party got 60,000 votes (7 per cent) here. Party insiders are also anticipating better results in at least seven or eight South Bengal districts, riding on meticulous selection of candidates and pooling of organisational strengths.
Top priority Top on priority list in South Bengal are Krishnanagar and Bongaon constituencies.
“I think we will add at least one seat other than Darjeeling this time,” says Bikram Sarkar. The last time BJP got two seats (Krishnanagar and DumDum) from Bengal was in 1999. A former chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, Sarkar was a two-time MP for Trinamool.
He, along with nearly a dozen retired IAS, IPS officers and corporate executives, joined the BJP a couple of months ago.