The BJP on Friday shied away from announcing its candidates for either of the first two phases of the Bengal Assembly elections, a move attributed to two contradicting theories.

A section of BJP leaders said the announcement was put on hold as the saffron camp was planning to reap dividends from the dissent in Trinamul because of omission of 23 sitting MLAs and five ministers from the list of 291 that Mamata Banerjee announced on Friday.

“The list doesn’t have the likes of Smita Bakshi (of Jorasanko), Mala Saha (Cossipore-Belgachia) and Rabindranath Bhattacharya (of Singur)…. We have to try and take advantage of the discontent,” said a source explaining why a pause button was pressed on publication of the list.

The delay in publishing the list, another section said, was to avoid any possible “sabotage” of Narendra Modi’s rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Calcutta on Sunday by those denied the BJP nomination.
Sources within the state BJP said there were “intense differences” between rival factions over candidature in at least 10 of the 60 seats going to the polls in the first two phases.

“Yes, the list for the first couple of phases was to be announced yesterday evening or this morning. But that didn’t happen, and only candidates for two Assam phases were announced instead…. There are fears of sabotage of the Brigade rally by influential sections disappointed by denial of candidature,” a source in the BJP said on Friday.

“It is no secret that the BJP here is a divided house. For these 60 seats, around a thousand names have been submitted. There can only be 60 candidates in the end. The party does not want the disappointed sections to deliberately contribute towards less crowd count, or some other unwarranted act of defiance,” said the source.

A state BJP functionary said candidature in at least a sixth of the seats in the first two phases was yet to be decided. “Those are highly winnable seats for us. Every influential lobby wants those seats for its own preferred candidates. That is why there has been no final decision on those 10-odd seats,” he said.

“The candidates will be announced after the Brigade event is over,” he added.

Suvendu reaction

Trinamul turncoat Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP’s catch of the poll season, vowed to make the chief minister lose in the Nandigram seat and turned the bohiragawto (outsider) tables on her.

“The people of Nandigram are saying, this time, they want a bhoomiputro (son of the soil), and not a bohiragawto,” said the former minister at a Panskura rally.

Former cabinet colleague Rajib Banerjee, a fellow Trinamul turncoat now in the BJP, has already said Adhikari told their new party’s national leadership that he would like to take Mamata head-on, by contesting from Nandigram.

“The Trinamul netri (woman leader) has to go back empty-handed to Calcutta.”

“Why is she running away from Bhowanipore? Because she is sure that she will lose there, if she tries to contest. You are most welcome to contest only from Nandigram. We will meet on the battlefield. On May 2, during counting, saffron will replace green here,” he added. “The margin of defeat in Nandigram will be thrice that of Bhowanipore.”