Once a Left bastion that turned into a Trinamool fortress, West Bengal, was for long believed that it will be impenetrable by the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, the ruling party's remarkable score in the state this Lok Sabha election grabbed eyeballs on Thursday when the results were announced.
Though Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress won more seats than the saffron party -- 22 of the 42 seats in the state – it was a cut-throat competition, with BJP winning in 18 seats.
Chandan Mitra, a former BJP cadre, who joined TMC last year, admitted that he was taken aback, reported NDTV.
“This is definitely surprising. They were nowhere until a year ago... but in the last two elections, they (BJP) have grown immensely... I would not be surprised if they turn out to be the government in waiting (in the state),” said Chandan Mitra.
When the Trinamool Congress was asked to comment on this, they said it was Mitra's “personal opinion and not the view of the party”.
In 2014, the BJP had got just two seats, whereas Trinamool had got 34 seats.
This year, for the first time, the Left was completely wiped out from the face of West Bengal. Analysts believe, it is their support base that has shifted to the saffron party instead of the TMC.
BJP’s Bengal numbers were one of the key contributors to the party’s massive victory in the national general elections, where it secured a total higher than the 2014 tally.
Political analysts are of the opinion that this will bolster the BJP’s ambition to win the state in the 2021 Assembly polls.
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