By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: Electoral prospects of Trinamool Congress seem brighter in north Bengal post veteran Congress leader Sankar Malakar switching loyalty to the ruling dispensation. For such a decision has been taken after weighing the pros and cons as desertion of this veteran leader is certainly an indication that the ruling dispensation is set to oust BJP from its perch in this part of the state. The decision raised eyebrows in political circles as BJP was also an option for him in this part of West Bengal. But then the veteran Congress leader has his reasons and he stuck to them .
Once a Congress legislator from Matigara-Naxalbari and heading the Darjeeling unit of the Congress party, Malakar gave the BJP a wide berth. He chose not to join the saffron camp in north Bengal where it has a better support base than south Bengal. He is quite popular in his region and represented for decades the Congress Party’s organisational strength in North Bengal. His defection to TMC just ten months before the assembly elections, is a big jolt to the Congress and boost to the TMC.
Indeed the BJP is no pushover in north Bengal. Ever since 2019 Lok Sabha elections it has made its presence felt. It has won in more seats than the TMC in 2021 Assembly elections. The BJP won 8 out of 9 seats in 2019 elections from the North Bengal.
Even in 2021 assembly elections, it bagged more seats than TMC in north Bengal. However, the TMC regained some lost ground. Yet it was TMC which the former Congress MLA chose to join. He is expecting nomination from Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly constituency next year as a TMC nominee, sources stated.
And Malakar fancies he has a better chance of winning it as neither his former party the Congress nor the Left can spoil his chances of being elected. Being no political greenhorn, he finds the TMC a better bet.TMC also thinks that the strongman image of Malakar and his base among the young Congress workers, will be of use for TMC in the northern region before the 2026 assembly elections.
Malakar is banking on ground level experience and the support of his community in the coming Assembly polls. He feels his association with ruling party which can sanction development funds for his constituency together some “help” from administrative machinery can turn the table in his favour.
The new entrant to TMC who joined the party in Kolkata seems to have done his homework. The 2021 election results saw TMC bagging 23 out of 54 constituencies in north Bengal. The tally further went up to 26 post defections from BJP to TMC. Like Malakar, these saffron camp MLAs feel that their political career stand a better chance in Trinamool Congress.
Given the results of the 2021 elections, the TMC is certainly a rising political force in north Bengal.. Former BJP MP John Barla recently switching loyalty to TMC also seems to have weighed upon Malakar’s decision. The TMC supremo Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been giving big focus to the development of North Bengal. She has been visiting the districts frequently and announcing new projects.
Malakar, once an AICC observer has made it clear that his former party lacks the political muscle to stop BJP in the state. He seems to have made up his mind to join TMC after his defeat in 2021 Assembly elections, a senior Congress leader felt.
Malakar is only too aware that the support base of the Congress has withered. On the other, as he considers the TMC as the rising force in north Bengal set to push the BJP to the sidelines in the 2026 elections. He has his pulse rooted the ground. He knows which way the wind blows.
But even if he is given the nomination from Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly constituency by TMC, Malakar does not have a cakewalk before him. The BJP nominee received a lead of more than 80,000-odd votes in 2024 Lok Sabha elections indicating a large support base of BJP. This has to be eroded substantially for the win of Malakar if he contests.
State Congress is making light of Malakar’s desertion. He will turn out an insignificant person in the hierarchy of TMC and his victory in Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly constituency is uncertain owing to coming up of a strong BJP support base in the Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya said.
An unfazed Malakar has plans to highlight the lack of progress in north Bengal and lay it to the BJP-run Union government. His game plan also includes highlighting demands by BJP leaders of a separate state being carved out of North Bengal amounting to a second partition of Bengal, an emotive issue which cuts across the political divide in the state. (IPA Service)
