4 min readKolkataJan 5, 2023 08:39 AM IST
First published on: Jan 4, 2023 at 04:09 PM IST
While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is all set to launch a massive outreach campaign, called “Didir Suraksha Kawach” or Didi (Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee) Protective Shield for the upcoming Panchayat polls in West Bengal, the principal Opposition BJP is banking on the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda to make its mark in the rural polls.
According to the Bengal BJP, Shah and Nadda are scheduled to hold several public rallies in the state in the coming days ahead of the Panchayat polls. Although these rallies would be held as part of the saffron party’s 2024 Lok Sabha election preparations, they would also form the setting from where Shah is expected to sound the bugle for the Panchayat polls.
Lacking a popular credible face of its leadership, the state BJP, plagued by factionalism and infighting, will lean on the heft and appeal of its top central leaders like Shah and Nadda to connect with the rural voters and boost its prospects. Party leaders say their focus will remain on making all attempts to win as many seats as possible in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state.
The BJP had won 18 of Bengal’s total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 polls. The party leadership has decided that Shah and Nadda will address 12 rallies each this year in those 24 constituencies where the party had failed to win in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the BJP’s principal star campaigner, is also likely to address a number of such rallies in the state this year.
“Amit Shah ji and JP Nadda ji will visit Bengal ahead of Panchayat polls and hold public meetings. Throughout this year, they will hold rallies in Lok Sabha constituencies which have been identified as weak for the party,” said Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar.
The state BJP is, however, yet to finalise a targeted campaign for the high-stakes Panchayat elections slated for April.
“The BJP does not believe in indulging in party activities only when there is an election. Our party activities go on throughout the year. Our workers are reaching out to people every day. We are highlighting issues that are relevant to the people who are also reaching out to us. They are tired of the corruption by the ruling party leaders and they want a change,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya listed the alleged corruption cases against the TMC leaders, deterioration of law and order situation, “irregularities” in implementation of MGNREGA and PMAY schemes and the TMC regime’s alleged “reign of terror” among the issues that would dominate the campaign for the Panchayat elections.
The TMC flayed the BJP for bringing in central leaders to win the state rural polls. “During the 2021 state Assembly polls, these central leaders toured Bengal at regular intervals. They spent huge amount of money in the campaigning. But the people did not support the BJP. They stood by Mamata Banerjee,” said TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen. “BJP leaders are free to come here as many times as they want. But it won’t yield any results. The TMC will once again emerge victorious. It is also clear from their strategy that they are again depending on central leaders.”
Last Monday, the TMC announced the Didir Suraksha Kawach programme, as part of which party workers will fan out across the state to highlight the welfare schemes undertaken by the Mamata Banerjee government. The campaign to be launched on January 11 will see about 3.5 lakh TMC workers visit around two crore households (covering the state’s 10 crore population) over the next two months, completing the exercise just ahead of the Panchayat polls.
The party leadership has decided that Amit Shah and JP Nadda will address 12 rallies each this year in those 24 constituencies where the party had failed to win in 2019. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna/File) 
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