BJP to TMC

On 16/4/2022 results of five by-elections were out.  Congress retained Kolhapur Assembly seat.  RJD wrested Bochahan Assembly seat from NDA.  It was held by VIP which was part of NDA.  This time VIP was against BJP.  BJP finished second.  Congress wrested Khairagarh Assembly seat from Janta Congress.  BJP finished second.

It is in West Bengal that an interesting development took place.  TMC won two seats.  Shatrughan Sinha won Asansol Lok Sabha seat.  He defeated BJP’s Agnimitra Paul by 3,03,209 votes.  Babul Supriyo had won it for BJP in 2014 and 2019.  Shatrughan Sinha was in BJP for many years.  He was minister in Vajpayee cabinet. He was not made minister in Modi cabinet.  He was not given party ticket in 2019.  He joined Congress.  He wanted to contest against Modi in Varanasi.  That did not happen.  He was asked to contest from Patna Sahib where he was sitting MP and had won twice in succession. He lost.  He joined TMC on 15/3/2022.

Babul Supriyo quit BJP after losing ministry in July 2021.  He was unhappy that he was asked to resign.  He had tweeted about that.  He had made his displeasure known.  On 19/9/2021 joined TMC and on 19/10/2021 resigned as MP.  He contested and won Ballygunge Assembly seat.  CPI(M) candidate finished second.  BJP candidate Keya Ghosh lost her deposit.

For both Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo it was sweet revenge on BJP.

Another interesting development took place in Delhi.  Prashant Kishor had a role in roping in many Congress members to TMC.  Shatrughan Sinha was one of them.  Prashant Kishor as election strategist had success in some states and failure in others.  He was with TMC in recent months.  His strategy failed in Goa.  He had made statements against Congress.  When TMC was celebrating, Prashant Kishore was making a presentation to Congress on how to win 2024 Lok Sabha election.  Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, A. K. Antony, Ajay Maken, Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh, K. C. Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Mukul Wasnik were present.  Prashant Kishor wanted Congress to concentrate on 370-400 seats, contest alone where it is strong and go for alliances in states where it is weak.  There is talk of him joining Congress.