‘Unhappy’ Nadda to meet Bengal BJP leaders over rural poll plan

KOLKATA:  Unhappy with the party’s organisational strength on the ground level, BJP’s national president JP Nadda will convene a meeting with the organisation’s three top Bengal functionaries in Delhi on December 19 to assess the preparedness for panchayat elections scheduled to be held next year. BJP’s national vice president Dilip Ghosh, state secretary Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will meet Nadda to discuss the strategy. 

The meeting has apparently been prompted by the recent report prepared by two leaders in charge of Bengal — Mangal Pandey and Sunil Bansal, who visited various districts and met the grassroots leaders to gauge the organisational strength. “Two months ago, Pandey and Bansal were given the task of assessing the real strength of the party’s organization, as without it we cannot expect an impressive performance in the rural polls. Naddaji expressed his unhappiness over the party’s strength at the booth level,” said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.

One-and-a-half years after the party’s loss in the 2021 Assembly polls, BJP leaders in charge of West Bengal held meetings with the party’s Mandal presidents and district in-charges. Sources in the BJP said the decision of meeting the lower-rung functionaries was taken after the saffron camp’s high command found ‘exaggerated’ reports on party’s strength on the ground to hide the real picture.

“Based on the inputs from districts, the state committee submitted a report which was contrary to the actual picture. The report prepared by Pandey and Bansal found the state leadership’s claim to have strong organisational set-up at the booth level false, as in reality, the party has no presence in many booths,” another BJP leader said, pointing out that the panchayat polls are important to gauge the party’s strength in rural Bengal at a time when the ruling Trinamool Congress is facing people’s ire over the issue of corruption. 

“The Centre has stopped release of funds to Bengal under the central schemes, and the state government has been forced to take a slew of measures to tackle the issue,” said the BJP leader.