Amit Shah, JP Nadda to visit Bengal almost every month

“Amit Shah and JP Nadda are expected to visit the state separately every month for at least two days till the assembly elections are over. The dates are yet to be finalised” West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

Union home minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda will visit West Bengal separately every month until the assembly election, due in the state next year, to boost the morale of workers, BJP leaders said on Wednesday as the party ramps up its strategy in the poll-bound state.

Fine-tuning its strategy, the BJP also appointed central leaders to oversee poll preparedness in five organisational zones in to which the party has carved up the state.(PTI file photo)

“Amit Shah and JP Nadda are expected to visit the state separately every month for at least two days till the assembly elections are over. The dates are yet to be finalised. Their regular visits will boost the morale of workers,” West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh told media persons in Kolkata.

Fine-tuning its strategy, the BJP also appointed central leaders to oversee poll preparedness in five organisational zones in to which the party has carved up the state. Senior party leaders said that based on their reports, the party’s central leaders in Delhi will prepare a final battle plan for the state.

Senior leaders Sunil Deodhar, Dushyant Gautam, Harish Dwivedi, Vinod Sonkar and Vinod Tawde, who have been made observers for each of the five organisational zones will camp in their respective zones -- North Bengal, Rarh Banga (south-western districts), Nabadwip, Midnapore and Kolkata -- till Friday to draft the reports.

“It will basically be a SWOT [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats] analysis. This is for the first time that central observers are being sent to take stock of poll preparedness in the zones. Earlier, central leaders used to be appointed as observers for an entire state,” said a senior BJP leader familiar with the plan.

Senior leaders said that an analysis of the party’s strengths and weaknesses, at the booth level, becomes all the more important because amidst a pandemic, the Election Commission of India is likely increase the number of auxiliary booths to maintain Covid-19 protocols.

The West Bengal assembly elections are likely to be held in April-May 2021.

Kailash Vijayvargiya is the BJP’s state in-charge while the party’s national secretary Arvind Menon and Amit Malviya, the party’s IT cell chief, are co-incharges.

The ruling Trinamool Congress in the state on Wednesday took a jibe at the BJP, saying that the party has lost faith in its state leaders and is asking central leaders to intervene.

“BJP’s central leaders are stepping in. This clearly indicates that the party has lost faith in the state leadership. The party is however still dreaming of winning the elections. It is not bad to dream,” said TMC MP Saugata Roy.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 constituencies in its best-ever performance in a contest that was marred by political killings and violence. It also won 40.2% of the votes cast. The TMC won 22 seats and 43.3% of the votes.

During his two day-visit to the state on November 5 and 6, home minister Shah held a meeting with party workers and reviewed poll preparedness. He also expressed confidence that the BJP would form the next government in the state.

“The BJP has an even chance in the coming elections. The scenario will get clearer within the next two to three months as situations unfold. But it is a fact that the BJP, over the years, has become the principal opposition party and this time they are eyeing for the Bengal polls,” said Amal Mukherjee, a political commentator and a former principal of Presidency College.