PM Modi will address fewer rallies in West Bengal than he did recently in Bihar, sources said, as he will have to divide his time between five states where elections will be held. (FILE photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today exchanged thank you tweets for New Year greetings they had sent each other.
PM Modi in Bengali, Ms Banerjee in Gujarati. In West Bengal, their parties are prepping to do battle in Assembly elections due in a few months.
The BJP, which hopes to make its first serious impact in the state, will not project a chief ministerial candidate. It will ask Bengal to choose between Ms Banerjee and development, with the slogan "
Parivartan Nahi Patan" which accuses the ruling Trinamool of promising change but ruining the state.
It will also attack the Trinamool as a "mirror image of the CPM" which Mamata Banerjee uprooted in 2011 after the Left party ruled the state for 35 years, sources said. The BJP had won no assembly seat in 2011 and now holds one after winning a by-election.
The party has built its cadres and made gains in the state since, getting 16 per cent of the vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
PM Modi will address fewer rallies in West Bengal than he did recently in Bihar, sources said, as he will have to divide his time between five states where elections will be held.
As it polishes its strategy for West Bengal, the BJP is watching its rivals closely. BJP leaders believe that if the Congress ties up with the Trinamool, they will consolidate Muslim votes hitting the CPM badly and that could give the BJP some advantage.
But, it assesses, if the Congress allies with the CPM, then the state's 30 per cent Muslim vote - which had swung away from the Left last time helping Mamata Banerjee win - could get divided.
The recent appointment of leaders with a hardline Hindutva image in key BJP positions in West Bengal is seen as an attempt by the party's ideological mentor, the RSS, at a polarisation of votes. State BJP leaders however feel this will be irrelevant in Bengal, which has historically rejected communal politics.