Kejriwal challenge done and dusted, Mamata next in BJP crosshairs

“If the Delhi elections were a Waterloo for Kejriwal, our next target is Mamata Banerjee,” said a senior BJP leader.

Echoing this claim, Union Minister and Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said, “Bengal is undoubtedly our next target. Without defeating Mamata Banerjee, BJP’s success would not be complete. The dream success for Modi ji would come when we defeat Mamata Banerjee in the Bengal Assembly elections next year,” he told The Indian Express.

Majumdar said the BJP has already started its work in this regard at the local level in Bengal. “In a few weeks our national leadership will also embark on the mission,” he said.

BJP supporters celebrate after the party’s victory in the Delhi Assembly elections. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

BJP leaders say the Delhi people’s decision to “repose faith” in Modi’s guarantees and a double-engine government reflected their “endorsement of the BJP’s welfare politics and its promise of good governance” which, they add, would give fillip to the party’s electioneering in Bengal.

While the Opposition sees the AAP debacle as a major setback to the anti-Modi front, the BJP camp says it would re-establish Modi’s “invincibility” in national politics. There are however some apprehensions in a BJP section that the Opposition parties’ repeated defeats could force them to reinforce their anti-BJP platform.

Since the beginning of such Opposition attempts for an anti-BJP grouping following Modi’s rise on the national scene, Kejriwal and Mamata had sought to mount a challenge to the Prime Minister. Routing the BJP in the Delhi Assembly elections twice – in 2015 and 2020 – Kejriwal also fashioned himself as an “alternative to Modi”.

After its debut in the 2013 Delhi polls and the fall of its 49-day government, Kejriwal had even entered the 2014 Lok Sabha poll fray from Varanasi to take on Modi, albeit unsuccessfully.

Both Kejriwal and Mamata had also been projected by a section of the Opposition as leaders who could take on Modi.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and ex-Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao also tried to position himself as a face of the anti-BJP forces, but the BRS (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi) was defeated by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, which led to his party losing its relevance at the national level.

Although Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was once seen as a possible PM candidate of the Opposition INDIA alliance, he again switched his loyalties and crossed over to the BJP-led NDA in January 2024, accepting Modi’s leadership.

BJD supremo and ex-Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik was also seen as a major regional player, who steered his party to victory for five consecutive times since 2000, although his party was seen as “friendly to the Modi dispensation”. In the 2024 Odisha polls, however, the BJP trounced the BJD, storming to power in the state for the first time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda celebrate the victory at the party headquarters on Saturday. (Photo: Praveen Khanna)

Among the regional Opposition players, Mamata now remains the only key anti-BJP face, who has ensured the TMC’s dominance in Bengal for the last three terms. The BJP had gained significant ground in Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning 18 of 42 seats as against the TMC’s 22 seats. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP won 77 seats out of 294 against the TMC’s 215 seats, becoming the principal Opposition. However, its tally in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls dipped to 12 against the TMC’s 29 seats.

The BJP’s return to power in Delhi after 27 years – winning 48 seats out of 70 against the AAP’s 22 – has been seen in the party circles as another signal that Modi’s credentials as an election winner remain undented.

Coming on the back of its big wins in Haryana and Maharashtra, where it was said to be on sticky wickets, the BJP’s Delhi triumph may also help the party neutralise the shadow cast by its sub-par performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP leaders say the Delhi outcome is a “reaffirmation of the credibility of Modi’s guarantees” at a time when all the parties, both national and regional, are vying with each other in competitive welfare politics. “This would also be a booster for the BJP’s pitch for a double-engine government for development, which would work in our favour in Bengal,” said a party leader.