West Bengal by-poll, BJP looks at the positives

New Delhi, Feb 17: Mamata Banerjee just can't stop smiling and went on to term the victories in the by-elections in Wes Bengal as a miracle.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) won the by-polls in both the Bongaon Lok Sabha and Krishnaganj Assembly segment of which the results were announced on Monday, Feb 16.

While the TMC is jubilant, the BJP on the other hand will not complain too much either. With a major increase in its vote share, the BJP has decided to up the ante in West Bengal and feels that come 2016 it will be the force to reckon with in a state where it was unheard of a few years back.

Another positive that the BJP would take out of this is the irrelevance of the CPM. The by-elections and the lacklustre attitude of its leaders shows that they are not even putting up a fight.

BJP upbeat in West Bengal:

The BJP in West Bengal says that there are a lot of positives to be taken out of these results. We saw the momentum shifting towards the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP in the by-elections came second in Krishnaganj and a close third in Bongaon. The president of the BJP's West Bengal unit, Rahul Sinha is extremely optimistic. He informed oneindia that the trends in favour of the BJP were increasing and will continue.

The immediate focus would be on the muncipal elections in Kolkata and would be followed by the assembly elections of 2016. The BJP's national president Amit Shah would tour the state extensively until the assembly elections.

The BJP says that it was those persons who have been Left loyalists who are now backing the BJP. It is a clear fight between the TMC and the BJP and the CPM has become a non-entity in many places, the BJP states.

The BJP is however aware that it would not be enough to bank on just the Left supporters. If it has to break bigger ground then it would need to divert the TMC vote bank into its kitty.

BJP indicates the future says Mukul Roy:

Although the TMC won hands down in both the by-elections, Mukul Roy was seen on television analyzing the result. He clearly mentions that the results indicate the future.

While stating that the TMC's vote share has remained intact, he goes on to analyse the vote share of the BJP from 2011 onwards.

In the year 2011 the BJP's vote share was 3.5 per cent and this dramatically rose to 17 per cent in 2014. Today the vote share is 29 per cent, Roy was also heard saying.

The other positive that the BJP is taking out of yesterdays result is that its candidate came second in an assembly segment.

This was crucial to the BJP which is trying to make inroads into state politics.

While in the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat BJP's candidate Subrata Thakur came third in the Krishnaganj assembly seat BJP's Manabendra Roy came second. Roy lost to TMC leader Satyajit Biswas by 37,033 votes.