Shiv Sena enters poll fray in Bengal, will fight TMC, BJP to protect Hindutva

BJP’s alliance partner Shiv Sena has decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on its own. The party has declared that it will field candidates in 15 out of the 42 seats in the West Bengal.

Contesting for the first time in the parliamentary elections from West Bengal, Shiv Sena has decided to field only Hindu candidates from Kolkata Dakshin, Jadavpur, Basirhat, Barasat, Dumdum, Barrackpore, Bankura, Purulia, Bishnupur, Medinipur, Kanthi, Malda North, Birbhum, Bolpur and Murshidabad seats in the state.

Hitting out at the BJP leadership in the state, general secretary of Shiv Sena’s Bengal unit Ashok Sarkar said "BJP was now filled with tainted TMC leaders. Who all have joined the BJP? They are all tainted TMC leader accused in the Saradha and Narada cases," Ashok Sarkar told India Today TV while referring to leaders like Mukul Roy and Sankudeb Panda, both of whom were quizzed by the CBI.

"BJP rose to power due to Hindutva but now they have derailed from that agenda. They don’t bother about the Hindus anymore. Our fight is to save Hindutva in Bengal. Thus we shall fight against both BJP and TMC here," the Shiv Sena leader said.

In 2016, the Shiv Sena had contested in 18 seats during the West Bengal state assembly elections. "TMC government has done some good work, especially in the rural sector but the Modi government is all about publicity. I think Modi is the worst PM of India," Sarkar said when asked to compare the performance of two arch-rivals -- Modi and Mamata.

The Shiv Sena's foray into West Bengal elections is crucial as it comes in the backdrop of growing bonhomie between Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. Shiv Sena, which is expected to eat into the Hindu vote pie that BJP aims to capture will only help the ruling TMC in Bengal.

In 2017, soon after a meeting between the two leaders in Mumbai, Sena mouthpiece Saamana had described Mamata Banerjee as a 'tigress' who had ended the 25-year-long Communist rule in West Bengal.

Downplaying any such equation, Ashok Sarkar, a former Bengal BJP leader who switched sides to join the Shiv Sena said, "Uddhav ji respects Mamata ji for ending the Communist rule in Bengal. She has been an MP for a long time. Naturally, she has had relations with a lot of political leaders but that does not mean compromising with our ideology."