BJP uses defection tactics to capture WB

The politics of gaining strength by engineering defection among rival political parties seem to be coming to a full circle in West Bengal with two MLAs from the TMC and one from the CPM joining the BJP on Tuesday.

It was the TMC under the leadership of the then general secretary Mukul Roy which used to engineer defections in the Congress and the CPM since it came to power in the state in 2011.

At the behest of Roy about a dozen Congress MLAs joined the TMC after 2011. About eight more Congress MLAs joined the TMC after it returned to power in 2016.

Ironically, Roy, who joined the BJP after his fallout with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, is now engineering defections in his former party.

Roy played a key role in TMC MPs Saumitra Khan, Anupam Hazra, youth leader Nisith Pramanik, and former MLA Arjun Singh joining the saffron party.

The BJP’s strategy of fielding turncoats from the TMC paid off as with the exception of Hazra the rest emerged victoriously. By roping in such experienced TMC leaders with considerable organisational clout in their areas, the BJP has ensured that the inexperience of its state leadership and organisational weakness does not damage its prospects in Bengal.

The best example of this is the case of Khan who contested from the Bishnupur Lok Sabha constituency on a BJP ticket.

A founder member of TMC, Roy knows the ruling party in West Bengal inside out and has capitalised on the internal discontent in the TMC to engineer defections.

Almost all the TMC MPs and MLAs who joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections were disgruntled with the party leadership for not getting tickets for the Lok Sabha elections.

Another aspect of the BJP’s defection tactics is that it is equally keen on roping in TMC councilors and local leaders.

This is a major cause of concern for the TMC as along with MLAs and MPs these local leaders are the key parts of it’s vote machinery.

TMC’s ground-level organisation can significantly be weakened if this trend continues. About 50 TMC councilors joined the BJP on Tuesday along with the MLAs resulting into the saffron party wresting three municipalities from the ruling party in Bengal.

“The politics of defection which was introduced by the TMC in West Bengal after 2011 has now become the new normal with the BJP resorting to the same tactics. This will make the 2021 Assembly elections difficult for the TMC,” Maidul Islam, a noted political observer, told DH.