Bengal BJP Sees Road to Revival through Campaigns against TMC, But Faction Feud, Exodus Big Barriers

In the BJP national executive meeting this week, party chief JP Nadda buoyed the West Bengal unit, as he praised it for gains in vote percentage in recent polls and said that the best is yet to come. Leaders back in Bengal conveyed to party workers that now the BJP will concentrate on movements in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in recent days has picked up the fuel price issue in West Bengal, protesting against the Trinamool Congress government for not reducing the Value Added Tax on petrol and diesel. It has also vowed to begin a strong movement on the matter of steep electricity bills.

While the party is looking for revival in Bengal after suffering electoral setbacks in assembly polls and bypolls this year, all is not well in the state unit. The BJP expelled its Howrah wing president on Wednesday after he spoke out against the leader of opposition in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari.

Party insiders say that in a closed-door meeting, Suvendu suggested that some Howrah unit leaders were in touch with the TMC. This statement sparked controversy and the BJP Howrah wing chief Surajit Saha described Suvendu as a “member of Trinamool Congress B team” and said he will not work under a person who had been with the TMC just some months back and was an accused in a graft case.

This comment prompted the BJP to expel him. Party sources say Surajit’s supporters will visit the BJP office to seek answers from the leadership on the step.

Sukanta Majumder, president of Bengal BJP, said, “If there is a problem, then everything can be discussed within the party. This cannot be shown publicly.”

There has been an exodus in the past few months of leaders from the BJP in the state, with many of them joining the Trinamool Congress. Actress Srabanti Chatterjee became the latest name on Thursday to quit the saffron party.

BJP insiders feel that when the party is trying to fight back, such incidents are disturbing the process and the divide between the old and new is also a headache.

TMC minister Partha Chatterjee said, “We will not say anything on the circus party.”

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