Bengal Assembly Polls: BJP Forms 117-Member Election Management Team Ahead of JP Nadda’s Visit

With Bengal Assembly Polls round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party has put all its might in the state to win maximum seats and dethrone the Mamata Banerjee government.  In its latest move, the party has formed a 117-member election management team. It is the biggest election machinery the party has ever put in place in the state.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the team has been divided into 31 units, with each tackling a particular aspect of the party’s poll preparations during the campaign–coordination, data collection, booth management, and social media management, etc.

“While some cells comprise multiple state leaders, including MPs and MLAs, and have a party veteran in-charge and co-in charge of them, a few cells have just one state leader,” said a BJP leader to Hindustan Times.

BJP national president J P Nadda will be visiting Bengal for two days next week to take stock of party activities before the 2021 assembly polls. Nadda would assess the party’s plans and preparations on December 8 and 9 in Kolkata, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas districts, a state BJP leader said on Thursday.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had last month said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda would be visiting the state every month till the Assembly elections are over.

Nadda had paid a day-long visit to north Bengal in October, while Shah was in the state for two days in November. After having a limited presence in the politically polarised Bengal for decades, the BJP emerged as the main rival of the ruling TMC in the 2019 general election, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The rift between the ruling TMC and Suvendu Adhikari, on the hand, has been widening with the party describing the rapprochement efforts as a “closed chapter” and the disgruntled leader taking pot shots at its top brass.

Adhikari, who had resigned from the Mamata Banerjee cabinet last week, was seen on Thursday holding a rally without the party’s banners and flags at Garbeta in West Midnapore district.

The TMC, miffed over developments concerning him, said the party will not make any further efforts to woo him back, party sources said. The TMC top brass has decided not to take any further initiative to convince Adhikari to remain in the party or address his grievances. The Adhikari episode is now a “closed chapter”, they said.