PM to Bengal BJP leaders: Ensure no name-calling during campaign

Amid the high-pitched campaign in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his party colleagues to see to it that the BJP does not indulge in name-calling or abuses and keep the campaigning positive, according to sources.

The Prime Minister, who held one-on-one meetings with senior leaders at the BJP headquarters on Thursday evening to understand “the real picture on the ground”, has urged the leaders to ensure that the narrative in the party’s campaign is not vitiated, the sources said.

“The Prime Minister asked us not to indulge in name-calling or negativity to counter the diatribe against the party and its leaders from the ruling TMC. He asked each one of us to see to it that the BJP’s campaign is civilised,” said a senior party leader who was part of the central election committee meeting on Thursday.

During the marathon meeting that began at 6 pm on Thursday, Modi held one-on-one meetings with each senior leader.

“He wanted us to give him the real picture, our limitations and drawbacks in the campaign so far. He asked to brief him honestly. He asked us to speak about the drawbacks before we talk about the advantages and the gains we have made so far,” said the leader.

In the party’s central election committee meeting, the BJP finalised candidates for almost all the 38 seats where polling will be held in the first phase of election in West Bengal on May 27.

Party sources said no party MP is contesting in the first phase, but did not rule out the possibility of some MPs being fielded. “With each seat important, if an MP is a sure winner in a particular seat, why should he or she not be fielded?” asked a party leader.

The BJP is unlikely to allow senior leader Mukul Roy, who left the TMC and joined the BJP in 2017 and currently holds a vice-president post in the party, to contest even though he is keen to do so. Roy is expected to continue in the organisation role, sources said.