KOLKATA: Giving a roadmap to party functionaries in poll-bound Bengal, BJP’s national president JP Nadda on Thursday asked the newly-selected state committee members and leaders to play the Covid-19 pandemic card while sharpening attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Nadda instructed Bengal functionaries to showcase how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successful "bold decision" of imposing the nationwide lockdown had helped to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and highlight Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s attempt to stop migrants’ return to Bengal.
"Other countries and WHO appreciated the way the Prime Minister is fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic. When he initiated an effort to help migrants to return to their homes, CM Mamata Banerjee tried to resist the poor workers from entering West Bengal. She was not allowing special trains for migrant workers. Besides, she labelled the 'Shramik Special' trains as Corona Express. All BJP karyakartas must highlight it before the people of West Bengal who will overthrow her government in the coming election," said Nadda, while addressing the newly-formed state committee on a virtual platform on Thursday.
The BJP president asked party functionaries to attack Mamata Banerjee on the line of Hindutva too. "West Bengal government had deliberately imposed lockdown norms on August 5, the foundation stone laying ceremony day of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. In the same month, she cancelled lockdown on Bakrid. Wasn’t it an anti-Hindu decision? Raise this issue before the Assembly election in Bengal," he said, adding, "The TMC-led government is not only anti-Hindu, it is against the poor as well as it is not allowing several central government’s projects in West Bengal."
The BJP president also asked the party functionaries to encourage people to produce the local products which help to build up 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'.
In his speech, Nadda gave a clear message that the party high-command would not tolerate any intra-party rift ahead of the crucial election in the state. "I am asking the state president to involve all the MPs and karyakartas in the party’s regular affairs by giving them certain responsibilities. "Each MP should be given responsibilities of four mandals. All the karyakartas must start door-to-door visit campaign and highlight the issues," he said.
Recently, the rift in the saffron camp’s Bengal unit surfaced after senior party leader Mukul Roy expressed discontent when the state president Dilip Ghosh claimed it would pick up as many as 190 Assembly seats out of 294 during a meeting at the party's head office in Delhi. Besides, a section BJP MPs met Nadda and expressed their displeasure over the issue of Ghosh’s dominance in the party’s regular affairs.