KOLKATA: Realising that retaining 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 42, which the BJP won in the 2019 general elections, will not be an easy task, the party’s leadership has decided to make changes in its organisational structure. As part of the revamp, two new committees — area committee and block committee — will be included in the present structure. “The inclusion of two new committees is aimed at strengthening the party’s organisation at the ground level, and creating more berths in the hierarchy, as well to address the discontent that surfaced within the cadre in the recent past,’’ a BJP leader in Kolkata said.
Presently, BJP set-up in Bengal has a booth committee, shakti kendra, mandal committee and district committee. “It has now been decided that the area committee will function between shakti kendra and mandal committee, while the block committee will be inducted between mandal committee and district committee. The area committee will be known as ward committee in municipality areas,’’ said the leader.
The BJP will create 341 block committees across the state.
“Our party has strong organisational set-ups in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh where ground-level strength is given top priority,’’ the leader added. Sources said the presidents of the existing committees are elected by the members of the concerned group. “But the heads of the new committees will be nominated,’’ said another BJP leader.
Though West Bengal is considered a big state in the party’s guidelines, the number of members in the committees will be restricted. “A maximum of 60 members can be in the mandal committee while in the district committee, it will not exceed 90. The induction of these layers in the hierarchy will offer berths to many,’’ he said.
After their unimpressive performance in the 2021 Assembly polls, BJP’s Bengal unit pinned the responsibility on their poor organisational strength at the lower level. Also, in the recent reshuffle in the hierarchy following the change of the state president, many party functionaries expressed their discontent publicly for not getting a place in the hierarchy. “The two yet-to-be inducted committees are expected to erase the discontent to some extent,’’ said a BJP leader.