“Eto porishrom ami agey kono vote-e korini (I have not worked so hard for any election before this),” says a half-smiling Anubrata Mondal, seated on a wooden chair on a blistering Birbhum afternoon.

An awning in front of the ground-floor office at the Trinamul strongman’s Bolpur home provides some relief to “Keshto”, as Mondal is affectionately called. The Trinamul district chief is minutes away from leaving for a roadshow on a hoodless jeep in Khoirasole on Tuesday afternoon. Birbhum votes on April 29.

Although the battle-hardened politician does not say so, it appears that the scorching sun — the mercury has touched 40 degrees Celsius — is weighing on his mind, as also the figurative spotlight that the BJP’s recent success in this Trinamul stronghold has swivelled on him.

“I started my election meetings as early as November last year and have not stopped for a single day,” Mondal says.

“In earlier elections, I hardly worked for six to eight hours a day. But this time, I start at 9.30am and work till 2am the next day,” says Mondal, one of the most trusted aides of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her go-to person in Birbhum.

Mondal has been entrusted with Trinamul’s functioning in not only Birbhum district, which has 11 constituencies, but also in three other constituencies in neighbouring East Burdwan.

“I can’t take too much travel.… I have been travelling 400 to 500km a day for the past few months,” says the 60-year-old.

Mondal refuses to directly address questions on the BJP’s rise in Birbhum since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Trinamul insiders say that despite Mondal succeeding in “gifting” the two Lok Sabha seats in the district — Bolpur and Birbhum — to Mamata, the numbers showed that the BJP had made considerable inroads, leading in five of the 11 Assembly segments.

BJP sources claim the party is confident of winning at least four of these five seats — Suri, Sainthia, Dubrajpur, Rampurhat and Mayureswar.

Mondal, however, has made a pledge to his party chief. “Not 10, I will win in all 11 seats in Birbhum and three in East Burdwan. You come and meet me on May 2 evening and I will tell you the formula,” Mondal tells this correspondent.

The Trinamul sources, however, say the party is not taking the BJP lightly.

“It is not the same war as in the past because the BJP has prepared a base in at least six of Birbhum’s 11 constituencies,” a source said.

Till 2019, Birbhum had been Trinamul’s backyard. The district has a 37 per cent minority population, and the community plays a decisive role in four constituencies — Muraroi, Nalhati, Hasan and Suri. Mondal and his aides consider this as an advantage for Trinamul.

BJP leaders in the area, however, claim that recent rivalries within Trinamul have pushed a section of the minority vote towards the saffron camp. “They want to teach Trinamul a lesson,” a BJP source said.

The Scheduled Caste population is also considerable in Birbhum — 29 per cent as per the 2011 census. The BJP’s stellar performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had been attributed to a great extent to the support it received from this segment.

“A large part of the SC vote bank is polarised owing to the appeasement politics of Trinamul. The people of Birbhum are looking beyond caste and creed to support us to protest the corrupt practices of Trinamul,” a BJP leader said.

The cast and community equations, insiders in both parties say, are new in Birbhum and the sudden change in the electoral game has introduced several new elements.

The most prominent among them is the subtle image change that Mondal himself has effected. Always a gregarious speaker, Mondal has been far more subdued in his recent rallies, avoiding controversial statements.

In 2019, he had caused an uproar by referring to “nakuldana”, which many had interpreted as a reference to bullets. In 2013, he had told party activists to bomb police should they try to assist Trinamul’s opponents.

Asked about the perception of a mellow Mondal, the leader laughs. “I never promised journalists that I would say something inflammatory every election,” he says.

“Anyone can think what they want, but I am doing what I have planned. But you may find me in form on the day of the polls,” says Mondal, adding that he has understood that the politics of polemic is a “waste of time” while taking on the BJP.

Birbhum BJP president Dhruba Saha asserted the party would win most of the 11 seats.