Mukul Roy claims BJP win in north bengal

Siliguri: BJP leader Mukul Roy claimed on Thursday that the party would perform well not only in the upcoming rural polls but will also secure six Parliament seats in north Bengal.

Roy, who visited north Bengal for the first time after joining the BJP, said that this was because people would revolt against the "terror tactics" of Trinamul and pointed out that in 2016, Trinamul could bag so many seats because the BJP was in the contest. The presence of the BJP, he said, led to division of anti-Trinamul votes.

"Trinamul could win previous elections (2016 Assembly poll) only because of the BJP. It had contested against the Left Front and the Congress alliance but the BJP was in the poll fray and bagged a considerable number of votes in each seat. Otherwise, Trinamul would have lost in 174 seats, out of total seats that it had won," Roy said while speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of a party meeting.

On Thursday, state and national BJP leaders held a meeting with party leaders from all north Bengal districts, except Malda.

"In the past two years, things have changed in the state. The BJP has been cementing its support base in rural areas while Trinamul is still banking on its 'terror tactics' and using the police to intimidate common people. But this will no longer work in the upcoming polls. People will revolt against it, like they did against the Left Front, which had taken the same tactics to stay in power for 34 years," Roy said.

A former leader of the upper rung in Trinamul's hierarchy, Roy also hinted that there would be major defections from Trinamul ahead of the rural polls and Lok Sabha elections of 2019.

"You will see it in coming days. I will keep on coming to north Bengal and in fact, later this month, I will visit Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts," he said, when asked if any other Trinamul leader from the region would defect to the BJP.

Trinamul leaders based in north Bengal aren't, however, ready to buy his theory.

"People in north Bengal have seen how the BJP has ditched them and particularly those in the hills. They are also aware how a section of BJP leaders has stood beside Bimal Gurung, who is responsible for the shutdown, violence and loss of lives. The party had spoken a lot about the tea industry but neither leaders nor the central government did anything for workers," said a Trinamul leader.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, sounded confident and said the party was spreading the organisational base in a steady manner.

"For the upcoming rural polls, we have formed five organisational zones. The north Bengal zone's meeting was held here and on Friday, we will hold a meeting of the Burdwan zone. So far, we could form booth level committees in 90 per cent rural areas of the state and all set to give a contest to Trinamul," said Ghosh.

The Telegraph