From Red to Blue & White to Saffron? BJP begins 'Mission West Bengal' with 3-pronged strategy for Panchayat, LS, municipal, state polls

Aiming to recreate the BJP’s stellar UP show in Bengal rural polls next year and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP in the state is taking tips from their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and has prepared a three-pronged strategy to emerge as the main contender of the ruling TMC.

“After our massive victory in the UP, our focus will be on Bengal where the appeasement policy of the corrupt Mamata Banerjee government has reached its apogee. People are fed up with this government and are looking for a change. Law and order has completely failed in 10 districts and Bengal has become a hub of anti-nationals,” BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

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He said BJP is synonymous with good governance and Modi’s agenda of development has been accepted by all. According to BJP sources, the party is planning to revamp the organisation in districts and frontal organisations in the next few months.

Vijayvargiya’s views were endorsed by the BJP state Mahila Morcha president and MP, Roopa Ganguly, who felt that Bengal was desperatly looking for a political force to counter TMC.

“We may have organisational lacunae but wherever there is an incident or issue, it is the BJP which first hit the streets. Bengal is desperatly looking for a political force to counter TMC,” Ganguly told PTI.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said since the results of UP have come out, leaders from various political parties are in touch with BJP and have expressed their wish to join the party.

“For last two days we have received calls from various parties expressing a desire to join the party. The surge in UP will definitely have its ripples in Bengal,” Sinha felt.

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Sinha, however, says that whoever wants to join BJP has to pass through the special screening committee of the party.The party has also decided to rope in intellectuals and popular faces in an attempt to build a good image of the party in the state.

The party will create an army of trained workers and whole timers who could propagate about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in every district of the state and expose the misrule of the TMC government.

A state BJP general secretary said that a screening process was recently started to induct hundreds of wholetimers for the party.

According to party sources, the district leaderships have been instructed to keep aside their differences and work as a single unit to strengthen the party organisation.

“The district leadership has also been asked to take regular feedback from the RSS in the districts, which will help us more to work and reach out to the grass roots level,” a BJP leader said.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh hoped that the measures being adopted by the state unit would help the party emerge as the main political opponent of the ruling party force in the state.

“In terms of force, we are the main opposition in Bengal. We may have a small number in the Assembly, but we are a major force. Both the Congress and the CPI(M) are playing second fiddle of the TMC,” Ghosh said.

According to party sources, the state unit has also decided to use the experience of 300 BJP workers from Bengal, who were sent to UP ahead of elections to pick up new strategies and campaign techniques which may give an edge to the party in the back-to-back elections in Bengal - 2018 Panchayat polls, 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 2020 municipal polls and 2021 Assembly polls.

Riding on Modi wave, the BJP had made impressive gains in Bengal in 2014 when it secured 17 per cent of popular votes. But in the absence of good leadership and organisational efficiency and due to severe infighting, the party lost its momentum by the beginning of 2015 only to bounce back in the 2016 Assembly polls by bagging three seats and 11 per cent vote share.