KOLKATA: Now that the panchayat elections are approaching, the BJP in West Bengal has a new problem at hand the ‘ghar wapsi’ of CPM supporters who had joined its fold ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and last year’s Assembly polls.
A few days ago, local BJP leader Ali Reza of Murarai, Birbhum, returned to the CPM with about 300 members of the saffron camp who were once known as the Left party’s foot-soldiers. Similarly, 60
families in Pandabeshwar in West Burdwan announced the shift in their political allegiance from the BJP to the CPM. Similar exodus at the grassroots level surfaced in East Burdwan and Murshidabad districts.
In a recent letter to BJP’s national president JP Nadda, former general secretary of the BJP in Bengal, Sayantan Basu, expressed his deep concern over the issue. Doodhkumar Mondal, BJP’s Birbhum district president, said loyalty for a party is built through regular political programmes. “Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, scores of CPM supporters joined the BJP realising that their party was unable to fight against the Trinamool Congress. Now the same people are returning to their old political platform because they found that the BJP is not strong enough to challenge the ruling party in the state,” he said.
Birbhum was the first district in the state where the BJP made inroads ahead of the 2018 panchayat elections. “Now we are facing the challenge of retaining our strength at the grassroots level in the same district. This is unfortunate,” Mondal added.
Admitting the exodus of the leaders to the CPM at the grassroots level, a local BJP leader said, “The ghar wapsi of turncoats has started, although it is taking place at a slow pace. However, as the panchayat elections come near, the process will gain pace.” The leader added that CPM’s recent protest rally against the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata saw a massive crowd of supporters of the Left party. “They did not need to hire trains or buses like we had to for our protest march to the state secretariat in August. The TMC is losing public support and it is the CPM, not the BJP, that is getting the benefit,’’ he said.
‘Exodus to gain pace as polls get near’
Admitting the exodus of the CPM leaders at the grassroots level, a local BJP leader said, “The ghar wapsi of turncoats has started, although it is taking place at a slow pace. However, as the panchayat elections come nearer, the process will gain pace.”