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Top UP BJP leaders drafted for ‘Mission Bengal’ with key responsibilities
The BJP had successfully brought together OBCs and Dalits in UP and that experience could be useful in Bengal where the party is attempting to connect with fishermen and Matuas, a Dalit refugee group with origins in Bangladesh and whose influence is spread over 50 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, said a BJP leader.
Senior BJP leaders in the Uttar Pradesh government and the party unit have been tasked with preparing the ground for the party’s ‘Mission Bengal’ ahead of the 2021 WB assembly elections, when the BJP is hoping to unseat the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and party’s UP general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal would be in West Bengal this weekend where they, along with other leaders from various states, are expected to be given key tasks.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, too, is expected to visit WB. The BJP, having re-elected Dilip Ghosh as Bengal party chief, is aiming to ready a booth-level party structure to bolster its electoral strategy, party leaders said.
“While BJP party leaders from across the country would be tasked with ‘Mission Bengal’, it’s in UP where the BJP successfully engaged with two influential caste groups, Dalits and OBCs, ahead of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as well as before 2017 UP polls. In West Bengal, too, the BJP is attempting to connect with fishermen and Matuas, a Dalit refugee group with origins in Bangladesh and whose influence is spread over 50 assembly seats in the state,” said a party leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
Maurya, an OBC leader, is likely to visit at least 30 assembly segments in West Bengal, including key regions like Howrah, Serampore, Arambagh and Uluberia.
Leaders from Uttar Pradesh handling political assignments in the crucial eastern state are expected to report to BJP chief JP Nadda, home minister Amit Shah and senior RSS leader, currently in the BJP, BL Santosh, party leaders said.
Also Read: BJP, GNLF join hands for Bengal polls
During his visit this month, Union home minister Amit Shah had set a target for BJP winning 200 of the 294 assembly seats in the Mamata Banerjee ruled state. Shah will visit Bengal again over the weekend.
“It’s not at all an ambitious target. In the 2019 LS polls in West Bengal, we won 40% of the vote share, against 43% of the TMC, and bagged 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats (against TMC’s 22 seats) in the state. Now, several leaders of the ruling TMC have joined us,” said UP BJP spokesman Navin Srivastava.
He went on to say that, and TMC was rattled by BJP’s growing popularity which was evidenced in the violent attacks on party leaders and cadre.
“But, this time, the writing on the wall is clear. We will create history in WB now,” Srivastava added.
Union minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan, a Jat (OBC) leader, is also expected to visit West Bengal.
