West Bengal verdict: With Mamata’s nemesis Suvendu Adhikari, Amit Shah plotted her downfall | India News
New Delhi: Pitting Subhendu Adhikari – who defeated the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee In his field, Nandigram, 2021 – Union minister against him in Bhavanipur is just the beginning Amit ShahDetermined to oust the TMC supremo in his backyard. What followed was a precise execution of brutal groundwork and careful management that ultimately led to his stunning downfall, capping his party’s downfall in Bengal — the most dramatic upset of the election to Suvendu’s demon-slaying feat. But there was a lot of ‘quiet work’ on Shah’s watch behind the title-grabbing feat, with BJP sources revealing that the home minister had made up his mind to go all out to defeat Mamata in her pocket boroughs as she paved the way for BJP’s victory.
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A combative Suvendu proving an able foil, Shah set out to assemble a dedicated team for Bhavanipur to execute his strategy. Every night he spends in Kolkata, he holds meetings focused on this seat only, said a source drafted in for the BJP’s campaign efforts.Also Read | With the iron dam down, the road to Mamata Banerjee’s house is open to the publicIn a constituency that had about 25,000 Gujarati voters and 21,000 Marwari voters, the communities that held the balance, Shah met their parties separately and provided an interesting atmosphere with an informal dinner as they shared their views. These communities have alleged that TMC members adopted strong tactics to prevent them from voting in previous polls and often fake votes were cast in their names. “They said they would be able to vote freely if their associations were provided with security. Shah has ensured that security is in place at every such place,” said a BJP official.
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Shah’s team has also appointed a dedicated booth-level in-charge across each booth in Bhavanipur. Their task was two-fold – to bridge any internal fissures within the party and any intimidation of the TMC on the ground. Shah’s personal goal was to get all BJP workers to cast their votes before 11 am and then work to ensure maximum voter turnout for the party. BJP members, including MLAs from other states who may have ties to different communities, were also deployed. Through the SIR process, around 47,000 names were deleted from the voter list in Bhavanipur — these were either dead voters or fake entries that the TMC alleged were exploited to cast fake votes. All efforts eventually converged to defeat Mamata by a margin of 15,000 votes that few expected, even as she alleged that the election was stolen from her and her party through undemocratic means.
