The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strategically launched its ‘Ekta Yatra’ (Unity March) in Malda district, explicitly targeting six Assembly constituencies with the upcoming West Bengal elections in mind. This calculated move, framed as a celebration of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s 150th birth anniversary, has drawn immediate fire from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Targeting Key Battlegrounds
The BJP’s program focuses on six seats: Baishnabnagar, Manikchak, English Bazar, Habibpur, Old Malda, and Gazole. The campaign was inaugurated with a rally and public meeting in Baishnabnagar.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP secured four of these seats (Gazole, Habibpur, Old Malda, and English Bazar), while the TMC won the remaining eight out of the district’s twelve. Notably, the BJP narrowly lost Manikchak and Baishnabnagar. However, buoyed by a strong performance in these two seats during the last Lok Sabha elections, the party has now made them a top priority in its bid to increase its legislative tally.
The BJP leadership views the Ekta Yatra as a platform to consolidate its support base and flip the constituencies it missed by a small margin, signaling a highly focused pre-poll strategy.
TMC Vows to Sweep All 12
TMC General Secretary Biswajit Ghosh quickly challenged the BJP’s strategy, dismissing their electoral prospects.
“We will contest all twelve Assembly constituencies in the district, and we will win all twelve,” Ghosh claimed. “The BJP will have to confine itself only to these six, and frankly, they are not in a position to win those either.”
The heated rhetoric underscores the intense political rivalry in Malda, with the BJP looking to capitalize on recent gains and the TMC determined to reassert its dominance across the entire district.