Amit Shah and JP Nadda are currently in West Bengal with the intention of strengthening the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The BJP believes that Bengal is a state where its prospects are on the rise. They think that a better performance in a state like Bengal can compensate for any weaker performance in other states. With the strategy to surpass the 18 Lok Sabha seats won by the BJP in 2019, Shah and Nadda aim to make a significant impact on the ground in Bengal.
Kolkata: Amit Shah is currently in Mamata Banerjee’s stronghold, Bengal. He has set a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2024. Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda have formed a 15-member core election management committee for the Bengal mission. The committee includes four central observers for Bengal, and interestingly, four junior central ministers from the state have been kept out. To strengthen the electoral strategy of the BJP in Bengal, a meeting is scheduled for December 31 with all MPs, MLAs, and officials. Shah urged the party’s state leadership to strive for victory on 35 Lok Sabha seats in the eastern state. The visit of Shah and Nadda to Kolkata focused on assessing the organizational landscape of the party in West Bengal, keeping an eye on the 2024 general elections. Both leaders conducted several meetings.
The Promise of Sonar Bangla: Amit Shah stated, “From the land of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, give 35 seats to PM Modi, and I guarantee that Modi Ji will make Sonar Bangla. If we can win 77 seats from zero (in the 2021 assembly elections), we can form a government with a two-thirds majority. Forming a BJP government in Bengal means ending citizenship for those persecuted through infiltration, animal trafficking, and conversions through CAAs.”
Team Composition: Shah and Nadda have formed a committee with Central Observers Sunil Bansal, Amit Malviya, Asha Laxmi, and Mangal Pandey. Besides the five state unit secretaries, all state party officials, Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, opposition leader Shubhendu Adhikari, MPs Dilip Ghosh and senior leader Rahul Sinha, are part of the team. Joint General Secretary Satish Dhone and General Secretary (Organization) Amitabh Chakraborty are also included in the panel.
Election Management Committee by January: According to a BJP leader in Bengal, an election management team of 150 members will be formed by January, with an expanded role for the core committee. The social media team, likely to include several influential figures, will be enhanced. Shah has instructed party leaders to focus more on rural voters during the campaign.
Nadda’s Call for Unveiling Dark Deeds: JP Nadda mentioned, “The Trinamool government in Bengal changes the names of central schemes and runs them according to their whims and fancies and gets involved in corruption. We need to expose the dark deeds of this government.”
Targeting Kalyan Banerjee: Shah took a dig at TMC leader Mahua Moitra, stating, “She (Mamata Banerjee) is trying to save that MP. How many questions have been asked about the poor in Bengal? They will never do that because the poor cannot give them expensive gifts.” Shah also criticized the imitation of Trinamool Congress’s deputy president Jagdeep Dhankhar by Kalyan Banerjee.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh downplayed the significance of this visit, saying that it would have no impact. He emphasized that the trust of the people of Bengal lies with the TMC and only Mamata Banerjee. He pointed out that this was evident in the 2021 assembly elections as well.
