Shiv Sena to contest in Bengal polls; will face Mamata, BJP, AIMIM & its ally Congress

Jumping into the Bengal poll fray, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday, announced that the saffron party will contest in the upcoming West Bengal polls. Sena will now face the Trinamool Congress, ex-ally BJP, its Maharashtra ally Congress-Left, and Owaisi's AIMIM. West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee holds fort with 222 seats, will go to polls in April-May 2021.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally at 1,05,57,985; 17,072 people inoculated on Day 2

Sena to contest Bengal polls

Previously, the Mumbai-based Shiv Sena has also contested in Bihar polls but barely bagged 0.05 percent votes - which was lower than NOTA which fetched 1.68% votes. Sena had fielded 22 candidates in the state announcing its decision to enter the Bihar poll fray after actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. While Sena had announced that  Uddhav Thackeray,  Aaditya Thackeray will campaign for polls, the Thackerays had not done so. BJP, which had bettered its tally said, "This is what has happened to the traditional vote bank of the Congress..Thanks to the Shiv Sena".

Jolting Owaisi's Bengal poll plan, AIMIM West Bengal chief SK Abdul Kadam joins Trinamool

Other alliances

On January 3, Owaisi announced that his party will contest the upcoming state assembly elections along with prominent Muslim leader Abbas Siddiqui. Owaisi who met Siddiqui at Futura Sharif in Bengal's Hooghly district said that he will soon decide as to which districts and how many seats will the AIMIM contest on.  Siddiqui, a Pirzada (religious leader) from Futura Sharif, has been planning to float a minority outfit of his own.

The Congress and Left have formally formed announced an alliance for the upcoming Bengal polls, but are yet to decide on seat-share. Trinamool currently has faced several key exits, with key MLAs and party leaders voicing discontent and jumping ship to the BJP, chief among them Suvendu Adhikari who also has two MPs in his immediate family. Amid this, the BJP has claimed that it has a list of 41 TMC MLAs who want to join the party, claiming 'Mamata's government will fall before polls'.

Congress asks Mamata to 'join forces' under its leadership; adds 'TMC can't survive alone'

BJP's Bengal push

The saffron party is gearing for a tough battle in Bengal - aiming to attain more than 200 seats, while not fielding a CM face yet. The BJP had already politically divided Bengal into five parts - North Bengal, Rath Bang (South Western District), Nabadwip, Medinipur and Kolkata, handpicking Shivprakash, Sunil Deodhar, Dushyant Gautam, Bhikubhai Dalsania, Ravindra Raju,  Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi to ta work on booth levels in these regions. With over 65,000 booth committees and 14,000 Shakti Kendra constituted, the BJP has appointed five veterans as central observers - with the final call to be taken by Amit Shah. Both Shah and Nadda have already visited Bengal multiple times in the past few months.

Aurangabad row: Congress claims 'Sena wants to rename city for votes', calls it a 'farce'