Only two weeks are left for the presidential election. Meanwhile, Yashwant Sinha, who has been nominated by the opposition and Draupadi Murmu from the BJP, has started touring different states to get votes of MLAs and MPs. While Murmu has traveled from northeastern states to Jharkhand and Bihar to garner votes, Yashwant Sinha is also touring from Telangana to Jammu and Kashmir. The special thing is that Sinha has also paid attention to BJP-ruled states during this period and has also reached Uttar Pradesh to collect votes. But his not going to Bengal for campaigning still remains a matter of curiosity for political analysts.
In fact, Yashwant Sinha has been a part of the Trinamool Congress, the main party of West Bengal, before becoming a candidate in the presidential election. In such a situation, questions are being raised among the people that why Yashwant Sinha is not going to demand votes in his own party’s area. Speculations are rife that Mamta Banerjee is confident of getting full votes of TMC MLAs to Yashwant Sinha from Bengal. On the other hand, a possibility is also being raised that Mamata Banerjee does not want to jeopardize her vote bank politics by giving Yashwant Sinha a chance to campaign in Bengal. Let us know what are the reasons, due to which Yashwant Sinha has not gone to Bengal to campaign…
1. Mamta’s over-confidence?
Before Yashwant Sinha, the joint opposition put forward Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and former Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the presidential election. However, all three denied it. Later, the name of Yashwant Sinha was put forward by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself. Under the pressure of Mamta, this name was finally agreed upon. In fact, Mamta was confident that by making a leader of her party as the presidential candidate, she could come forward as the leader of the opposition and could also be successful in keeping the votes of TMC MPs-MLAs together.
However, in the past, the manner in which there have been incidents of cross voting during the Rajya Sabha elections in different states, this confidence of Mamta can also prove to be fatal. Political analysts believe that the way the controversy over the ‘Kaali’ documentary has increased in the past and the statement of party MP Mahua Moitra on it, some TMC MLAs are also angry. Taking advantage of this opportunity, BJP has started demonstrations against TMC.
In the midst of this situation, the re-activation of Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata in Bengal politics, can also create problems for TMC. Because Suvendu already has contacts with many MLAs and MPs in the party. In such a situation, due to the secret ballot in the Rajya Sabha elections, the possibility of cross voting cannot be ruled out.
2. BJP’s Trump Card
The very next day after Yashwant Sinha’s name was announced by the opposition, BJP had announced the name of tribal leader Draupadi Murmu for the post of President. Since Draupadi may be the first woman president to come from any erstwhile state, the chances of her getting support from these states are quite high. On the other hand, his coming from the tribal community can also give a lot of advantage to the BJP in Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.