All eyes on Modi’s Bengal rally as EC announces dates

With the Election Commission announcing the schedule of Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry, all eyes will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in West Bengal where the BJP is fighting the most crucial electoral battle.

The BJP has challenged TMC supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the state where the party’s organisational and support base had started expanding only since 2014. One of the prominent faces of the Opposition camp, Ms Banerjee is giving a tough challenge to the BJP which has deputed more than five dozens of its senior leaders, including Union ministers, in the state for the past couple of months and party president J.P. Nadda has been making regular visits.

In Tamil Nadu, the BJP has teamed up with the ruling AIADMK which is being challenged by the DMK-led alliance. It is the first time that both the AIADMK and DMK will be entering the electoral arena without their “tallest leaders” — J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi respectively.

While the BJP does not have a major support base in Tamil Nadu, its leadership, sources said, has been trying hard to resolve differences between AIADMK and Jayalalithaa’s aide, V.K. Sasikala. Her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran’s outfit AMMK has a sizable influence in certain areas and the BJP is trying hard for the AIADMK to retain power in the state.

In Assam, where the main Opposition Congress lost its “tallest leader”, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, recently, the BJP poll managers have been busy strategising against the Congress, AIUDF, AGM and more than five regional outfits.

In Kerala, the BJP is hoping to increase its vote share as the state has been giving mandate alternately to the Left-led and Congress-led alliances.