In North Bengal stronghold, BJP aims to gain headstart as TMC steps up to turn the tables

For the BJP, the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal is crucial as the party aims to exceed the 18-seat mark out of the state’s 42 seats, which it had achieved in 2019.

The three seats in North Bengal going to the polls on April 19 – Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri – were all won by the BJP in 2019.

Across the political divide, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that has been ruling the state since 2011, needs to wrest these seats to dent the BJP’s stronghold region. Apart from Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, the party has deployed all 10 members of the delegation — who were heckled in Delhi for demanding that the Election Commission allow the state government to disburse relief in Jalpaiguri despite the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct — to campaign across North Bengal, including Derek O’Brien and Sagarika Ghose.

In Alipurduar, the BJP overlooked sitting MP and Union MoS John Barla to give the ticket to Madarihat MLA Manoj Tigga, hoping that the change of face will enthuse voters. Its attempt to patch up internal differences in the party’s local unit has gained some success after Barla, who had initially announced he would contest as an Independent, buried the hatchet and was seen campaigning with Tigga since April 9.

Barla attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s April 4 events in Cooch Behar and at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri. Party sources said the PM played a key role in resolving the differences within its Alipurduar unit.

Barla also took the initiative to hold a meeting with Tigga on Monday to formulate the party’s campaign strategy. To take on the TMC candidate, Rajya Sabha member Prakash Baraik, Tigga and Barla jointly campaigned in the tea estate belts of Toto