NEW DELHI: With the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election in sight, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up its organisational drive to challenge and uproot the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), placing special emphasis on regions long regarded as the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s bastions: South Bengal, Kolkata and the minority-dominated border districts.
Sources within the state BJP said that during his recent visit to Bengal, the party’s national president convened a closed-door meeting with senior leaders of the state unit. During this interaction, responsibilities were clearly defined, with Members of Parliament and senior leaders being tasked with reinforcing the party’s grassroots structure in districts where the BJP has traditionally struggled to build a strong presence.
A source told The Sunday Guardian that every MP and senior leader has been assigned a specific district, along with explicit instructions to maintain regular engagement with voters on the ground. “The objective is to establish direct contact with people and persuade them that the BJP stands for development and offers a viable alternative to what the party describes as the misgovernance under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” the source said.
As part of this broader strategy, party leaders have been directed to prominently highlight central government welfare schemes during their outreach efforts. These include Ayushman Bharat, women-led development programmes and several other initiatives that the BJP claims have not been properly implemented in West Bengal. The party also intends to reassure voters that, if it comes to power, it will ensure the full and effective execution of these central schemes across the state.
The BJP leadership is fully conscious of the fact that dislodging Mamata Banerjee from power in 2026 would necessitate making deep inroads into South Bengal, Kolkata and the minority belt—areas that have consistently contributed a substantial share of votes to the TMC. Neutralising the political influence of Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in these regions is therefore being viewed as one of the party’s most formidable challenges.
Unemployment is expected to be a key campaign issue for the BJP in South Bengal and Kolkata, with the party aiming to capitalise on voter dissatisfaction by offering assurances of improved employment opportunities and a “brighter future” for the local youth.
The electoral numbers further highlight the significance of this approach. North and South 24 Parganas together comprise 64 of the 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly. The BJP failed to secure even a single seat in these districts in the 2016 Assembly elections and could manage only five seats in the 2021 polls. The party’s position in Kolkata has been even weaker, having drawn a blank in all 11 Assembly constituencies in both the 2016 and 2021 elections.
Manoj Tigga, BJP MP from Alipurduar, told The Sunday Guardian that senior leaders have been given clear responsibility for strengthening organisational structures at the district level, extending down to individual booths.
