NEW DELHI: In a rare show of solidarity during assembly elections, regional party leaders positioned as political opponents to the ruling BJP at the Centre as well as in their respective states, have not just pledged their support to Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her battle against the saffron challenger, but many will be campaigning for her in the Bengal assembly polls.
Veteran leader and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav are among those who will campaign in the poll-bound state. Pawar, whose party is a coalition partner in the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, has already confirmed his dates, according to TMC sources.
As the high-decibel assembly elections in Bengal is turning into more of a Modi versus Mamata battle, the anti-BJP political forces across the country seem to be rallying around Banerjee, supporting TMC, rather than the Congress-Left-ISF alliance which is also targeting the ruling TMC which is seeking a third term in office.
While the Left parties have often partnered Congress at the national level, against the BJP and its NDA allies (most who have shifted out of the saffron umbrella), smaller parties like NCP, JMM, RJD, SP have rallied around Congress as the fulcrum party earlier.
However, this is the first time that the state election in Bengal has a different flavour. It is not usual for parties that are not contesting in a state election to be campaigning in that state, even as tall leaders may have lent support to some parties earlier without a direct stake in the polls. Bengal elections have also been fought between parties with regional strength like TMC or the Left. While national parties like Congress or BJP have not been a major player in the state for long years. While Congress was reduced to a marginal force existing in pockets in the state ever since TMC was founded by Banerjee, breaking away from it, BJP has had very little presence in the state before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in terms of electoral gains.
But with BJP which has three assembly seats at present, emerging as the main challenger to TMC over the last two years, opposition parties at the centre seem to be putting in their weight against the saffron brigade in Bengal.
As Bengal shares its borders with Jharkhand and Bihar and is home to many domiciled people from the two states as well as from Uttar Pradesh, the presence of JMM (Jharkhand), SP (UP) and RJD (Bihar) could act as influencers on such voters to some extent. BJP, which is seen as a Hindi-heartland party in Bengal has been wooing the Hindi-speaking voters in the state for a long time.