Unishey half, Ekushey saaf

KOLKATA: BJP , which is putting up a spirited fight in West Bengal and is expected to raise its vote share substantially, has found an unlikely ally in the Left with CPM cadres silently helping it at the ground level. The common object of hate for the two sides, otherwise sworn enemies, is Mamata Banerjee 's Trinamool Congress Unlike its formidable organisational machinery in the heartland states, BJP lacks muscle in these parts and is a much smaller force compared to TMC or even the emasculated Congress and Left. The party's poll managers readily admit that they are banking on help from "unexpected quarters" - ground level CPM workers. These foot soldiers, squirming at the ruling regime's harassment and growing might, would love nothing more than giving a bloody nose to Banerjee, even if it means joining hands with the growing saffronites.CPM workers at the booth and ward levels, feeling threatened by TMC after 34 years of Left Front domination, are eagerly helping BJP in managing polling booths and are even campaigning silently in wards where the Left cadres still have some hold.For instance, Kolkata Uttar constituency has 1,862 polling booths. BJP, which claims to be in with a chance to oust sitting TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, has its own workers in only 500 of them. It is learnt that CPM workers have offered help and BJP is tapping them. BJP's poll managers are holding regular, but discreet, meetings with them to plan door-to-door campaigns in some pockets, silently and without slogans. There is also an unwritten pact between the two sides to keep vigil at booths on election day wherever BJP does not have an agent. Rahul Sinha is the BJP candidate against Bandopadhyay.This is not a one-off case, senior BJP functionaries admitted, with the party having the same experience in Tripura while ousting the Manik Sarkar-led Left Front government there. Acknowledgement of what is happening on the ground came from none other than Sarkar himself. The CPM politburo member's message to the party while campaigning in Bengal on Tuesday was, "Don't make the mistake of choosing BJP to save yourselves from Trinamool Congress. Look at Tripura. In just 14 months, what they have done in Tripura is far beyond TMC's terror. Do not invite them in. It will be terrible blunder. It will be a suicidal decision."Getting wind of CPM assisting BJP in pockets, Banerjee warned her party workers against the move. "Harmads (referring to CPM workers) are doing it again, beware of them, they are helping our enemies, be careful, be alert," she keeps saying at her rallies.The development spells more bad news for CPM. Already pushed to the margins in its erstwhile fortress, the party risks losing whatever little vote share it commands with its own workers propping up BJP candidates instead of their own. The silent slogan CPM workers have coined, '' (Half in '19 and saaf in '21), gives away the plan to oust the TMC by the 2021 assembly polls.