As Bengal BJP’s string of losses continue, ‘part-time’ state chief in firing line

The BJP also lost Sitai in North Bengal’s Cooch Behar despite having a strong organisational base in the belt.

The BJP’s bypoll campaign was centred on issues such as rape-murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital in August – which had convulsed the state leading to widespread protests by junior doctors and civil society members for weeks – and corruption cases against some TMC leaders. However, it could not reverse the declining fortunes of the party in the state.

Earlier, in the July 10 Assembly bypolls too, the BJP lost all four seats to the TMC, of which three seats – Ranaghat Dakshin in Nadia district, Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district and Raiganj in North Dinajpur district – were bagged by the BJP in the 2021 Assembly elections. The BJP had led in these segments even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in which the party’s tally plunged to 12 of the state’s 42 seats from 18 that it had secured in the 2019 polls. The BJP’s vote share dipped from 40.25% in 2019 to 38.73% in 2024. On the other hand, the TMC increased its tally from 22 seats with 43.27% vote share in 2019 to 29 seats with 45.76% vote share in 2024.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP failed to replicate its 2019 show but it still managed to get 77 seats out of 292 to emerge as the principal Opposition party in the state. Spearheaded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the TMC then pulled off a hat-trick by winning 215 seats.

Reeling from the BJP’s decimation in the recent bypolls, a section of the party leaders has started demanding a change in the state leadership, calling for fixing accountability now. State BJP president and Union minister Sukanta Majumder has especially come in the line of their fire.

A senior BJP leader said, “We did not have a concrete planning for the bypolls after we lost the Lok Sabha elections. Naturally, we are losing these elections and our vote share are also continuously decreasing. If this trend continues, we will face a devastating loss in 2026 Assembly elections.”

Targeting Majumder, some BJP leaders are pressing for a “full-time state party president” on the ground that the former has been inducted as a Union minister in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government following the Lok Sabha polls.

Veteran BJP leader Tathagata Roy took to “X” to say, “West Bengal BJP is a tottering house that continues to be the 2nd party in the state, not because of its organization but by blind support of a section of the Hindu public. It is unimaginable that in a state like West Bengal the BJP is run by a part-time president who doubles as a Minister of State at Centre.”

He added, “Inaction in the face of clearly provable cases against Abhishek (Banerjee) have convinced the people that there is understanding between Mamata and the central leadership. Unless this is reversed BJP has no hope in the state. Mamata has crafted a narrative that BJP is a Hindi-speaking anti-Bengali party. Unless a counter-narrative is devised, Mamata will rule West Bengal forever.”

He also pitched for the appointment of Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari as the state party chief. Majumder and Adhikari are known to have strained ties.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said, “All we want is that whoever is the state BJP president should fight this government eye-to-eye in an unrelenting way.”

Former BJP MP Arjun Singh also called for “proper leadership and booth-based work” to take on the TMC in the next Assembly polls due in about one-and-a-half years.

On his part, Majumder said, “These are bypolls and naturally such results happen. But we are hopeful that in 2026 (Assembly polls) we will win.” He also said, “I am doing the work given to me by the party. There is a procedure for electing the state president. According to that system, state BJP president will be chosen. Some people don’t have work, they always shout.”

The BJP central leadership had appointed Majumder as the state party chief after the 2021 poll debacle, replacing Dilip Ghosh with him. Majumder fell out with Ghosh as he sidelined the latter’s associates and formed a new team of the BJP in the state.

Taking a swipe at the raging infighting in the BJP after its bypoll rout, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “Circus comes to Kolkata during the winter season. This time too, it has come. We can see some jokers are shouting. We are enjoying it.”