BJP Stuns Mamata With Huge Inroads In Bengal

New Delhi: The BJP has stunned Mamata Banerjee and her Tirnamool Congress by putting up an impressive double-digit performance in Bengal, according to the available trends.

The Trinamool was ahead in 22 and the BJP close behind, leading in 18 seats. The state has 42 seats. The BJP’s performance shows the party has been able to make huge inroads into the state that had sent just two MPs of the saffron party to Lok Sabha in 2014.

The BJP is likely to step on the gas to take Bengal in the 2021 Assembly polls. As an analyst put it on NDTV, the results in Bengal show that the “Left has turned right”.

The BJP has benefited from the Left, which lost power in the state in 2012 after three decades of rule. Analysts say the Left’s vote share has transferred to the BJP.

Several traditional Left voters and functionaries switched to the BJP instead of the Trinamool Congress.

Critics of Mamata accuse her of inviting trouble with her minority appeasement policies and with her poor control over unruly elements in her party, who were accused of poll violence and rigging.