Defence veteran Saha BJP candidate in Bengal

NEW DELHI:  The BJP on Tuesday fielded Lt Gen Subrata Saha, currently member of the National Security Advisory Board and School of Military Affairs Director, as the party’s candidate in the West Bengal Assembly elections. Saha has been fielded from the Rashbehari constituency, where TMC has won since 1998.

Releasing a list of 13 candidates for different phases of elections in West Bengal, BJP also fielded economist Ashok Lahiri from the Balurghat constituency. Earlier, BJP had withdrawn his candidature from Alipurdwar after protests by local party workers against the nomination of Lahiri, was seen as an outsider. 

Saha, an alumni of Sainik School of Purulia in West Bengal, belongs to the Assam Regiment. He had retired as Deputy Chief of the Army Staff. “He was responsible for perspective planning, force modernisation and capability development. He created the Army Design Bureau in 2016.

Post retirement, he was the Founding Director General of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers,” said a senior BJP functionary. A recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Saha is hailed in BJP as an expert on national security. 

Saha faces a tough fight against TMC’s Debasish Kumar, considering that the Rashbehari constituency has been a stronghold of the ruling party for many years. Other than accommodating a large number of turncoats from the ranks of the ruling TMC in its lists of candidates for West Bengal, the saffron outfit has fielded a number of candidates with professional backgrounds, who had in the past been associated with various think tanks of the party.