KOLKATA: Upset with the party’s poor show in Asansol, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will meet party functionaries both in north and south Bengal. BJP insiders said Shah was unhappy with the defeat in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, which was earlier with the party for two previous consecutive terms, and the party candidate’s losing security deposit in Ballygunge.
With the defeat in the coal belt, the BJP’s number of MPs from Bengal has come down to 17 in the Lok Sabha. Worse, the BJP is seeing discontent among its state organisation, with two BJP MLAs announcing on Sunday their decision to step down from party hierarchy.
Shah, who was to visit Bengal this month, will now reach the state in the first week of May. “Though his programme schedules are yet to be finalised, we are told that Shah will meet the leadership of the party’s nine organisational districts in north Bengal. He is likely to return to Kolkata the same day and meet the leaders from south Bengal in Salt Lake,’’ said a senior leader.
Sources said the central leadership has instructed the Bengal unit to prepare a report pinpointing the reasons for the disastrous performance in the bypolls. ‘’’The findings will be discussed in the meetings with Shah. The party’s organisational pitfalls will also get top priority in the meetings,’’ said the leader.
On Sunday, Murshidabad MLA Gaurishankar Ghosh resigned from the post of BJP state secretary and Behrampur MLA Kanchan Moitra announced his decision to step down from the state committee. Both the leaders alleged that incompetent leaders were being given priority in the party. The duo said the lack of
experience of the state leadership led to the poor electoral show.