Amit Shah, Nadda set the tone for LS polls in West Bengal: 35-seat target, key BJP panel

The Shah-Nadda duo also constituted a 15-member election management team for the polls, setting it a target of 35 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in the state.

Both Shah and Nadda started their day by visiting a gurdwara as well as the Kalighat temple in South Kolkata. Later, at a city hotel they held a closed-door meeting with the state BJP brass.

Both Shah and Nadda were tightlipped about the meeting.

However, a senior state BJP leader, who was present in the meeting, said: “Their (Shah-Nadda’s) message is clear. We have to pull up our socks now and work for 35 seats in this Lok Sabha polls. Not only we have to reach out to the people but we have to strengthen our organisation from the booth to the district level.”

He also said, “A 15-member election management committee has been set up to oversee preparations for the polls. The panel will oversee everything relating to upcoming elections including preparations and campaigns.”

The panel comprises 10 Bengal BJP leaders – including state party chief Sukanto Majumder, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, ex-state chiefs Dilip Ghosh and Rahul Sinha, MLA Agnimitra Paul, MP Locket Chatterjee, general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty, general secretaries Jagannath Chattopadhyay and Dipak Burman, and MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato – and five central leaders including Amit Malviya, Satish Dhond, Asha Lakra, Mangal Pandey and Sunil Bansal.

None of the four Union ministers from the state – including Subhas Sarkar, John Barla. Nisith Pramanik and Santanu Thakur – has been included in the panel.

Sources said reports from booths, mandals and 42 organisational districts (representing 42 seats) were discussed in the meeting.

The message for the Bengal BJP was that it should not get complacent due to the party’s recent wins in heartland states.

“We were told that Bengal has a different political situation and we need to work hard to secure seats in the Lok Sabha polls – not only in the 18 seats where we won last time, special focus has to be given on new seats, where we have a chance of winning this time,” said another BJP leader.

In the evening, Shah also addressed the state BJP’s social media and IT karyakartas. “In 2024, the BJP will win more than 35 seats in West Bengal,” Shah told the gathering. “Karyakartas in Bengal have made biggest sacrifices in history and even attained martyrdom. Look at the outcome we have achieved…. If we can achieve 77 seats from zero, then we can form a government with two-third majority also,” he said.
Shah also said, “Give 35 seats to Modi ji from the land of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, I guarantee that Modi ji will make Sonar Bangla”

Slamming the Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s expelled MP Mahua Moitra and its another MP Kalyan Banerjee, Shah said, “Didi’s MP (Mahua) shares her password with businessman in exchange for gifts and now she is trying to safeguard that MP. How many questions were asked about the poor in Bengal? They will never do that because the poor cannot give them expensive gifts. Her MP (Kalyan) mimics the Vice-President. Does it behove an MP.”

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had bagged 18 seats as against the TMC’s 22 seats. However, in the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP finished with just 77 seats as against 213 of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which thus returned to power in the state for the third consecutive term.

The BJP emerged as the principal Opposition as both the Left Front and the Congress drew a blank in the polls. Despite its rapid growth in the state, the BJP has however not been able to dent the TMC’s supremacy. Since the 2021 polls, the BJP could not win any bypolls in the state.

Brushing aside the significance of Shah-Nadda’s visit, Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson, said: “It is their panic reaction. They know they will lose in the Lok Sabha polls. That is why they are desperately trying to get some votes. However, the more they come here, the more they will lose votes.”