The challenge to Sunday’s hegemonistic assertion of Home Minister Amit Shah that the TMC chief would remain alone just ahead of the ensuing assembly election has come from an unexpected quarter. Usually professionals do not join issues or enter into unsolicited tiffs with politicians. But the poll strategist Prashant Kishor preferred to pick up the cudgels on behalf of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and reply to Shah’s barbs against her.

Contrary to public assertion of Shah that his party BJP would win more than 200 seats and finish Mamata politically, Kishor proclaimed that the BJP will not cross double digits in the West Bengal assembly polls and he will quit the micro-blogging platform if the saffron party does any better than what he has predicted.

Apparently this may not dampen the spirit of the BJP leaders and cadres, but it certainly poses the question about ground level realities that made Kishor to come out with the assertion. By speaking out he has staked his professional future. His professional career will be ruined in case he fails. It would be wrong to say that he made this statement for simply making light of the coup Home Minister Amit Shah pulled off with a parade of TMC leaders into the saffron party.

Somewhere down the line, he has cautioned Amit Shah and asked him to refrain from speaking loud. It is worth mentioning that he had planned the strategy for Narendra Modi in 2014 for the Lok Sabha elections. This matter is known to Shah also. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, the party's points-man in the state, is free to speak anything — the country will end up losing a poll strategist after the West Bengal elections — what he feels against Kishor, but the fact cannot be ignored that Kishor has the pulse of the people at the ground level in his hands.

Shah and his RSS aides must not commit the mistake of ignoring Kishor’s challenge who said: “For all the hype amplified by a section of supportive media, in reality BJP will struggle to cross double digits in West Bengal".

What made him to come out with this remark is equally important and significant. Something must have resonated at the ground level which does not vibrate the ebullience of Shah and the BJP leaders. The nature of the audacity of Kishor could be understood from his next line: "Please save this tweet and if BJP does any better I must quit this space!"

Even while the words of Kishor were echoing in the political circle, came yet another rude shock for BJP and this time from Sujata Khan, the wife of BJP MP Saumitra Khan. Sujata switched over to the TMC from the saffron camp on Monday, claiming that she did not get her due recognition even after taking several risks to get her husband elected during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She alleged that "newly inducted, misfit and corrupt leaders" are getting more importance in the saffron camp than the loyal ones." During earlier elections, when Saumitra was debarred from entering into area and campaign, she had alone carried out the electioneering.

She said:” Despite enduring physical attacks, sacrificing so much to get my husband elected to Parliament, I did not get anything in return... I want to work under our beloved leader Mamata Banerjee and our dada Abhisek Banerjee". She might be rejected as a light weight politician, but her appeal to the women will certainly make some amount of difference. After joining TMC she said; “it was up to him to decide his future course of action. I hope he would realise one day... Who knows he might be back in the TMC one day".

Derek O'Brien, Rajya Sabha MP of TMC has hit out at Amit Shah saying that there are at least "7 pieces of concocted, false info" in his speech and in fact peddling such misinformation was "actually, by his [the Home Minister's] standards, quite low!"

He began with countering Shah’s claim that "Mamata Banerjee had left the Congress for another party and is accusing people of defection today". O'Brien pointed out that Mamata had, in fact, not defected to another party. "She set up a NEW party in 1998, the All India Trinamool Congress".

He dissected 7 false claims made by Shah. He also labelled the BJP as the 'Tourist Gang' in his tweet. The list also counters six other allegations made by Shah involving misappropriation of Ayushmann Bharat benefits and PM Kisan funds. After “fact checking” Shah’s allegations, Derek slammed him, saying his priority was 2021 'West Bengal elections' and 'not overcoming the coronavirus challenge'. In a tweet, he said that the BJP government 'abandoned' migrant workers and gave them just four hours before announcing the lockdown. O'Brien's attacked him on Amphan, coronavirus and the state/ central government's response towards the global pandemic.

While Amit Shah claimed that 300 BJP workers have been killed in 1.5 years, O'Brien countered by stating that workers are being killed because of 'infighting'. On Shah's accusations of Bengal depriving farmers under PM Kisan Yojana, he asserted that the state government is providing farmers with annual assistance of Rs 5,000 per acre and also pays full insurance premium under Sasya Bima.

Countering Shah's claim of people in Bengal not being given benefits under Ayushmann Bharat, O'Brien mentioned the Swasthra Sathi under which 1.4 crore families have been provided with health insurance benefits up to Rs 5 lakh per annum.

Ironically, a day after visit of Shah, the party has started witnessing clashes between the old workers and new entrants. A senior leader confided the TMC leaders have been joining the BJP to get legal and police protection. Shockingly, some old video clips in which senior TMC leaders who joined the party are seen taking money from top Sharda officials have making the rounds in the political circle. He said Shah’s claim of ridding Bengal of corruption is a hollow pledge considering that most of the converts from Trinamool face multiple corruption charges.

Meanwhile, in a major development, most of the opposition stalwarts have closed ranks to wage a struggle against Modi government for its efforts to destabilise the Mamata government. Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) national spokesperson Nawab Malik said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called up Sharad Pawar on Sunday and discussed the issue. The issue will be discussed by leaders of Opposition parties in Delhi. "Sharad Pawar will himself visit Kolkata, if need be," he added. The NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other leaders will unite the Opposition in future.

The West Bengal government has locked horns with the Centre over the latter directing three IPS officers from the state to join in Central deputation for their alleged dereliction of duties following the recent attack on the convoy of BJP president J P Nadda. TMC leaders are already on record to deny the involvement of their cadres in the incident. The party leaders allege that a case was being prepared at the behest of Amit Shah to destabilise the Mamata government.

“The IPS officers have been withdrawn without the consent of the West Bengal government, which is very dangerous. West Bengal Chief Minister has discussed the issue with Pawar saheb," Malik said. Significantly almost all the opposition and leaders from various states have expressed their solidarity with Mamata.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and DMK chief M.K. Stalin, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, too, had picked up cudgels for the rights of state governments. “Transferring officers to central deputation without the state govts’ permission, as has been done in West Bengal, is another glaring example of diluting the federal structure,” Amarinder Singh tweeted.