News Mania Desk/ Agnibeena Ghosh/17th June 2024
In response to the disappointing performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) convened a core group meeting on Saturday. The BJP, which had ambitiously targeted 30 out of the 42 seats, saw its tally drop from 18 to 12. To understand and address this decline, the party has decided to conduct a series of meetings across the state to identify the underlying causes.
Rather than conducting a single introspective session in Kolkata, the BJP will hold separate meetings in all five of Bengal’s organizational zones: North Bengal, Nabadweep, Rahr Bengal, Howrah-Hoogly-Medinipur, and Kolkata. Each zone will host discussions involving Lok Sabha candidates, their in-charges, and concerned assembly in-charges. These meetings will be overseen by key leaders, including BJP state president Sukanta Majumder, general secretary (organization) Amitava Chakrabarty, and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, depending on their availability. Chakrabarty will supervise the entire review process across the state.
The Saturday meeting featured prominent BJP figures such as Sukanta Majumder, who has recently been elevated to Prime Minister Modi’s Council of Ministers, along with Santanu Thakur, Sunil Bansal, Amit Malviya, and Asha Lakhra. A major focus was the ongoing tensions between Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari, whose public disagreements have caused discomfort within the party. While Ghosh attended the meeting, Adhikari was absent, citing his visit to meet victims of post-poll violence in Cooch Behar, North Bengal, as instructed by the central leadership.
Election Commission of India (ECI) data revealed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) secured 45.76% of votes in West Bengal, while the BJP garnered 38.73%. This vote share gap enabled the TMC to win 17 more Lok Sabha seats, leading to a loss of six seats for the BJP compared to its 2019 tally.
The Lok Sabha results have also triggered assembly by-elections in four seats in West Bengal: Ranaghat South, Raiganj, Bagda, and Maniktala in Kolkata, scheduled for July 10. While the TMC and Left Front have already announced their candidates, the BJP is still in the process of finalizing its nominees. During the recent meeting, the BJP discussed several potential candidates for these constituencies and shortlisted three names for each seat.
The BJP also addressed the issue of post-poll violence and its strategy to support party cadres in need. A team led by former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, constituted by party president JP Nadda, is set to investigate the status of post-poll violence cases. This team will arrive in Kolkata on Sunday and meet victims at Maheshwari Bhawan. The BJP intends to keep the focus on Bengal during this period, as the fact-finding team will be touring the state.
The Bengal BJP’s efforts to understand and rectify its electoral setbacks reflect a broader strategy to strengthen its foothold in the state. By conducting thorough reviews in various zones and addressing internal conflicts, the party aims to regroup and prepare for future electoral challenges. The upcoming by-elections will serve as a critical test for the BJP’s renewed strategies and their effectiveness in garnering voter support in West Bengal.
