Shiv Sena won't contest West Bengal assembly election, stands behind Mamata Didi: Sanjay Raut

MUMBAI: Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that his party won’t contest the upcoming assembly election in West Bengal.

The Shiv Sena leader further said that his party stands in solidarity with Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. “Shiv Sena has decided not to contest the West Bengal polls and stand in solidarity with Mamata Banerjee,” Raut said.

Raut took to Twitter and tweeted that at the moment, it appears to be a “Didi vs All fight.”

He added that all M’s – money, muscle, and media - are being used against the Mamata Didi. Hence the party has decided to not contest the Bengal assembly polls and support her.

pic.twitter.com/enjd4sfiwx — Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) March 4, 2021

Meanwhile, BJP central election committee will meet on Thursday to finalise the party’s first list of candidates for the crucial West Bengal assembly election 2021.

The CEC meeting will take place at the party headquarter in Delhi around 7 PM and it will be attended by PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, senior BL Santosh and others.

CEC will clear the name of the candidates for the polls and will also release the list of the candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls.

Ahead of Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address 20 rallies in poll-bound West Bengal, responding to the huge demand of local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of these two states. According to sources, the rallies are planned in such a way that all the 23 districts of West Bengal will be covered in these rallies.

BJP functionaries including Kailash Vijayvargiya, national General Secretary, Mukul Roy, national Vice-President, Sanjay Singh, General Secretary and Swapan Dasgupta, MP, Rajya Sabha are looking into the preparations at Brigade Parade Ground, where PM Modi will address a public meeting on March 7 at Brigade Ground, Kolkata. 

This will be PM Modi's first rally in West Bengal post the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI). West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance, and BJP in the fray. While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seeking her third consecutive term, BJP has set a target of winning 200 seats in the 294-member state Assembly. 

Congress and the Left have stitched the alliance for the polls and had already finalised the seat-sharing agreement. They are also in touch with the Indian Secular Front (ISF), recently floated by influential minority leader Abbas Siddique.

In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, out of the 294 seats, Congress had managed to win 44 seats while the Left Front bagged 33 seats. The ruling TMC secured 211 seats and the BJP had won 3 seats.