West Bengal, where the electoral discourse has largely steered clear of communal politics, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of resorting to polarisation to get a larger share of the pie in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A minor player in the state till a few years ago, the BJP is emerging as the new opposition, pushing the once formidable Left and the Congress to the fringes.
The saffron party holds only one assembly seat and two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, where ideology and people's problems have traditionally been the poll planks, but hopes to better its tally this time.
BJP president Amit Shah has set a target of 23 seats for the party in the state where the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has held power since 2011.