Why TMC must be wary of the BJP?

New Delhi, Apr 2: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) may have won 34 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in 2014 General Elections, but what has not gone unnoticed is that the BJP is making inroads in the state. Before the TMC emerged to rule West Bengal, it was the Communist Party, which had ruled the state for 34 long years. Around 2009-2010, when the TMC took over the reins from the Left, the BJP was nowhere in the picture.

West Bengal has not been a happy hunting ground for the two big national parties - BJP and Congress. It is dominated by a regional party - the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. Bengal's political landscape is, even today, a two-way fight dominated by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and the CPM. But, what the TMC must take note of is that the BJP's vote share has been growing.

Factionalism in the once formidable CPI(M)-led Left Front, and the Congress, has helped the BJP to emerge as an aggressive opposition force in Bengal. The part which edged past the Congress and the Left Front in the panchayat elections last year, won 7,000 odd seats in three-tier panchayati raj institutions. In the Lok Sabha polls Trinamool could well retain the bulk of its seats and the BJP could emerge in second place with a reasonable increase in its seats share.