Team News Riveting
Kolkata, January 12
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in West Bengal would set aside their differences to defeat Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming state polls.
The strategy was demonstrated at a rally organised by the Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in South Kolkata on Monday afternoon. The rally was led by Sovan Chattopadhyay, former Kolkata mayor and one-time close confidant of Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, and Baisakhi Banerjee.
Political observers marked it as a turning point for the state unit of the party. For, Chattopadhyay’s participation in the rally is being, justifiably, celebrated in state BJP circles as a final mark of unity in the party. Last week, he skipped a road-show organised by the party in the city.
The former Kolkata mayor, who joined the BJP on 14 August 2019, had been reportedly sidelined by the old guards in the party. The simmering differences between the leaders migrating from Trinamool Congress and other parties and the old guards in the BJP had posed a challenge for the leadership.
As part of its strategy to win West Bengal, the BJP managers had decided first to keep its house in order. The dedication and sacrifices made by the grass root BJP workers in Bengal during the Communist and Trinamool regime could not be ignored. But trouncing Trinamool without the help of new entrants would be a daunting task.
Mukul Roy (a former Trinamool leader), for instance, played a crucial role in the BJP’s handsome victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Many other influential leaders from the Trinamool, Congress and Left parties who joined the BJP before the 2019 polls also played important roles in helping the saffron party win 18 seats from Bengal.
A top BJP leader told News Riveting that Party President J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a series of meetings with the state leaders and asked them in unequivocal terms to sink their differences and work together.
The Kolkata rally saw the strategy taking shape in West Bengal.
