Bengal BJP will see rejig of party functionaries

A meeting of the Bengal unit of party leaders has been called for 30 July.

New Delhi: The West Bengal BJP is going to see a substantial rejig of party functionaries in the coming days. Informed sources told The Sunday Guardian that a meeting of the West Bengal unit of the party leaders—that will include all the 18 Lok Sabha members and leaders of the state executive—which will be presided over by party national president Amit Shah and working president J.P. Nadda, has been called for 30 July.

According to sources, the party is holding this meeting to understand the situation in Bengal and to take stock of the organisational growth of the party in the state amidst inputs from the RSS that infighting among the senior leaders has become a worrying factor and if not tackled soon, is likely to hamper the BJP’s chances in the January 2021 Assembly elections.

The inputs shared by the RSS also say that some of the MPs, especially those who joined the party just before the elections, got tickets and won, are taking no interest in spreading the reach of the BJP in their region and are more focused on enjoying their new-found power and position.

A high-level meeting that focused on West Bengal was held in the third week of July at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence, in which the Prime Minister, Amit Shah, J.P. Nadda and national joint secretary (organisation) Shivprakash, who is handling West Bengal, were present. However, Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in charge of West Bengal, did not attend this meeting.

In the coming few days, among other things related to the organisational restructuring in West Bengal, Shah, Nadda and the newly appointed party’s organisational general secretary, B.L. Santosh will also decide on the name of the new state president to replace the incumbent Dilip Ghosh, whose three-year tenure ended in December last year. Ghosh was appointed on the said post in December 2015.

Party sources familiar with the developments taking place said that there were many suitable names who could replace Ghosh, and added that a collective thinking was emerging in the party that it should be given to an organisational man, rather than an elected individual. In this context, the July third week meeting has assumed significance, with party leaders stating that a few names to replace Ghosh had already been shortlisted in the meeting.