New Delhi: Away from the political war of words and high decibel TV debates, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also busy projecting political strategist Prashant Kishor, hired by Trinamul Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the 2021 assembly polls, as an “outsider”.
Contending that by hiring an “outsider” the TMC has hurt the “Bengali intellect”, BJP says that Ms Banerjee has already conceded defeat as Mr Kishor is a leader of the JD(U) — which is a strong ally of the BJP.
After the BJP’s significant growth in the state, the TMC has been trying to project the saffron party as a “party of cultural outsiders”.
The TMC has hired Mr Kishor to contain and preferably halt the growing acceptance and popularity of the saffron party, which increased its Lok Sabha tally from two to 18 in the parliamentary polls.
Initiatives undertaken by the TMC recently, including ‘Didi Ke Bolo’ helpline number and a website to reach out to the masses and address their grievances, are seen as Mr Kishor’s ideas to the ruling party ahead of the 2021 electoral battle.
“Everyone knows that PK (Prashant Kishor) is a JD(U) leader, which is an NDA ally. If Mamata Di thinks that she can win (the assembly polls) with his ideas then she needs to rethink but Bengalis are intelligent enough to understand that she is fast losing the battle. How can you hire an ally of your opponent to win the battle. Also, Bengalis have an independent mind and cannot be controlled by others,” said an election strategist of the BJP, adding that “Bengalis are intelligent enough and don’t need an outsider to tell them what to do. PK's hiring is itself against the Bengali intellect.”
When asked how does the BJP leadership feel about a JD(U) leader working with the state’s ruling party, the election strategist said: “We have asked people if they think that Mr Kishor is working for the TMC and almost everyone agrees that he is not.”
Since 2014, the BJP has emerged as the main opponent to the ruling TMC and has massively increased its support base and increased organisational strength in the state.
The BJP has given a call for winning 250 seats of the total 294 assembly seats for the 2021 assembly polls
