Kharagpur bypolls: TMC banks on BJP trick, BJP feud to breach saffron fortress

The BJP, which did not even contest the seat in 2006 Assembly polls, saw its vote share jump to 7% in 2011. But five years later, the party’s vote share saw a meteoric rise to 39%. The Congress, which had 39% vote share in 2006, contested the next Assembly elections in alliance with the TMC in 2011 and managed to increase its vote share to 55%. Five years later, the contest turned triangular, with TMC going alone and garnering 22% votes, Congress in pre-poll understanding with the Left Front saw its vote share dip to 32%.

This time, it’s 2016 redux, with Congress and Left in a pre-poll alliance, and TMC and BJP going solo.

To win the seat, TMC has fielded 38-year-old Pradip Sarkar, the current chairman of Kharagpur municipality and once a close aide of West Midnapore Bharati Ghosh, who interestingly is now with the BJP. “As a former close aide of Bharati Ghosh, Pradip Sarkar has good contacts in the BJP too. So, he is the best challenger to throw out the BJP from here,” said a senior local TMC leader. “Pradip Sarkar also has the support of TMC leader and minister Shuvendu Adhikari. Shuvendu will make him MLA,” the TMC leader added.

Sarkar also sounds confident of a win. “We will win. The BJP is now divided. Now, the question is: who will be fighting us — the original BJP or the duplicate BJP?” he says as he goes on canvassing.

In Nimpura, a BJP stronghold locality, dominated by Telugu-speaking people, there are voices of support for Sarkar. “Pradip da is very popular everywhere. Everybody knows him. He did several developmental works for Kharagpur. So, he will easily win the election,” said 31-year-old B R Krishna Rao.

But the contest won’t be easy. The factional feud within the TMC — three to four TMC councillors are reportedly opposed to Sarkar’s candidature. Moreover, the BJP has a strong presence in Telugu-speaking voters, which according to locals, constitute 30% electorate.

While the BJP has fielded Prem Chandra Jha, who had contested 2006 on an RJD ticket and as a BJP candidate in 2011, it’s Dilip Ghosh who has taken the mantle of canvassing here. A defeat of the BJP here could be ominous for the party as well as Ghosh. Knowing this fully well, the party has even roped in MLA from Andhra Pradesh Tiger Singh, aka “Tiger Raja”, famous for his controversial remarks, to woo Telugu-speaking voters. As a local leader said, huge cutouts and festoons all over Kharagpur resembles like Andhra election campaigning.

“I increased my vote share every time. Now, my target is to secure more than one lakh vote. I am not scared of TMC’s muscle and money power,” said Dilip Ghosh, with Jha adding, “Dilip da is with me. I will win with a commendable margin.”

But with rebel BJP leader Pradip Pattanayek also in the race, the party knows the race is open.

But the Congress is banking on some mathematics. “In the last Assembly election, Congress was defeated because the TMC vote got transferred to Dilip Ghosh. This time it will not happen. The Left Front is also supporting us. So, we will win,” said a local Congress leader campaigning for party’s Chittaranjan Mondol, a High School teacher commonly known as ‘masterji’.