Shafaqna india: Major upsets are on the cards at the hustings on Monday with the BJP and NDA establishing early leads in West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry; actor Vijay Thalapathy’s TVK leading in Tamil Nadu; and the Congress-led UDF ahead in Kerala.
The big story is emerging from Bengal where the BJP has maintained a lead right from the start of counting.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is leading over BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Bhabanipur after trailing briefly.
If the overall trends in Bengal hold, it would mean a massive strategic win for the BJP in Bengal, the second eastern state after Bihar where the BJP will have its chief minister for the first time.
For the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the win in Bengal would be an ideological booster as Syama Prasad Mookerji, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was from Bengal.
It would also mean the end of Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year rule that began in 2011 when she dislodged the 34-year-old Left Front government in the state.
Mamata rose to prominence as a 29-year-old defeating CPM stalwart Somnath Banerjee from Jadavpur in the 1984 Lok Sabha election. If she loses today, her decline would be as dramatic as her rise.
In Tamil Nadu, political debutant Vijay and his TVK is leading in the trends with one exit poll earlier predicting Vijay to emerge as the leader of the single largest party in the state.
If it happens it would be the first time in Tamil Nadu’s history that power will shift out of the Dravidian hands.
DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin is seeking a re-election with AIADMK-led NDA bloc comprising the BJP, PMK and AMMK challenging the DMK.
In Assam, the BJP led by Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is poised for a comfortable win, with the Congress failing to secure power even after 15 years of the BJP rule.
In Kerala, the last Left bastion is about to fall after Bengal and Tripura. The Congress-led UDF is marching ahead with a comfortable edge over the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF.
Puducherry appears to be sliding towards the ruling NDA again.
