Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who was named star campaigner in West Bengal from the MVA, will be campaigning for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) next week after Holi.
This is despite that Pawar’s party is a constituent of the Congress-Sena-NCP alliance in the Maharashtra government.
NCP sources said that Pawar will address public meetings and also meet Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The first phase of Pawar’s campaigning will be for three days.
Congress leader Pradeep Bhattacharya has written a letter to the NCP leader not to campaign for Trinamool which may send wrong signals to the voters as Congress is contesting elections in the state in alliance with the Left.
Interestingly, most of the UPA constituents are supporting the Trinamool in place of Congress which is heading the UPA alliance in the country.
Apart from the NCP, Shiv Sena, JMM and RJD have extended their support to the Trinamool in West Bengal elections.
The state is witnessing a fierce political battle between Trinamool and BJP.
The BJP manifesto is focussing on the “Sonar Bangla model”. JMM leader Hemant Soren will be pitched for tribal votes in the state.
The Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 and the results will be declared on May 2.