Shah asks BJP West Bengal unit to prepare road map for 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Buoyed by the party’s performance in the West Bengal Assembly election earlier this year, BJP chief Amit Shah has asked the state leadership to prepare a road map for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“Recently, we had a meeting with Amit Shah ji in New Delhi and we have been asked to prepare a road map for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. This will include the path to be followed to win maximum number of seats in the state in 2019,” state BJP unit chief Dilip Ghosh said.

A senior BJP leader said the party has reached the “saturation” point in various parts of the country by winning the maximum number of seats in the 2014 general elections.

“The results in these states might not be as good as was in 2014. So in order to make up for the seats, we need to eye states like West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and southern India. We want the road to New Delhi in 2019 to be through eastern India,” he said.

“West Bengal has 42 seats and if the party wins more than 20 seats in the state, it would be a big boost. So in the road map that will be prepared, we need to identify the seats where we are in a good position, the seats where we are neck and neck with other opposition parties and we need to work hard where we are not at all in a good position,” he said.

BJP had put up a spirited show in the West Bengal assembly polls earlier this year and played spoilsport for the opposition Left Front-Congress alliance in more than 70 seats.

Though BJP’s vote share in the state decreased from 17.5 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to 10.2 per cent in the assembly elections, it was for the first time the party won three seats on its own in the state.

In the assembly polls, BJP not only garnered around 56 lakh votes—up from 19.5 lakh in 2011, it made its presence felt in 262 out of 294 Assembly segments where it polled more than 10,000 votes.