kolkata with less than a year to go before west bengal assembly polls the political faceoff between the ruling tmc and its principal challenger bjp is set to get intense with both the parties pulling out all the stops to connect with people in virtual space amid the lockdowngiven the unrelenting rise in coronavirus cases physical distancing and minimal human contact have become the new norm everywhere leaving the archrivals of bengal politics to bank on social media for garnering supportthe bjp and the tmc which have been at each others jugular over the handling of the covid19 situation migrant workers plight and cyclone amphan are all set to launch a blitzkrieg on various virtual platforms tearing into each other over these issues the tmc was first off the block with its supremo mamata banerjee holding a virtual meeting with functionaries and public representatives on june 5 outlining the partys strategy for the pollsthe bengal bjp will take the plunge on june 9 with union home minister and senior bjp leader amit shah kicking off a virtual rallywest bengal bjp president and mp dilip ghosh said it was important to prepare a plan of action to highlight the poor governance of the tmcled dispensation as well as to reach out to the netizenswe can very well say that amit shah ji will launch the virtual campaign for the 2021 assembly polls due to covid it is not possible to organize rallies or mass gatherings so we are resorting to social media campaigns to connect with the people and highlight the tmcs poor governance in the state covid and cyclone amphan will be the major poll planks for the next years polls ghosh told ptithe saffron camp which had last week released a ninepoint chargesheet against mamata banerjees rule of as many years has recently floated a social media drive christened aar noi mamata no longer mamatas ruleaccording to state bjp sources the party is planning to conduct more than 1000 virtual rallies covering every nook and corner of the stateas cadres have been sitting at home for the past two months these virtual rallies and online programmes will motivate them and boost their morale we will organize such rallies with our state and district leaders addressing people across bengal the cadres will send out messages and videos over whatsapp highlighting the failures of the state government in resolving migrant crisis the bjp leader saidthe tmc government which had been facing flak over alleged mismanagement of the covid situation and delay in restoration work postcyclone amphan has also launched a massive drive last week with public representatives in their assembly constituencies conducting virtual meetingssenior state minister and tmc leader firhad hakim said the party would have to effectively counter the bjps propaganda and its practice of peddling fake news while highlighting the excellent work of our government over the past nine yearsmamatadi had asked us to make preparations for 2021 assembly polls without further delay we have been asked to promote