With an eye on the 2021 Assembly elections the BJP has divided Bengal into five organizational divisions to be supervised by as many central leaders.
According to sources these five divisions are North Bengal, Rarh Bengal comprising Purulia, Bankura and Birbhum, Kolkata and surrounding areas, Hooghly and West Midnapore and Krishnagar-Nadia and surrounding regions.
These regions would be supervised by Garish Dwivedi, Vinod Sonkar, D Gautam, Sunil Deodhar and Vinod Tawade in that order, party sources said adding these leaders in consultation with the local leadership would hold organizational meetings to prepare a preliminary list of party candidates by November 20, whereafter the report would be sent to BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Home Minister who came to Bengal on a two-day trip early this month is likely to make a second visit of the State around November 30 apparently to discuss the organizational matters, inside sources said.
Meanwhile, Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday mounted a fresh attack on the Trinamool Congress Government for failing to do anything for the minorities allowing All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) to find base in the State.
What the TMC leadership dismissed as the BJP’s ploy to divide the Muslims votes through disinformation campaign, Ghosh said “though the Trinamool has extracted votes from the Muslims by promising them sky they have done nothing for them which is why the minorities of this State are a disgruntled lot and are looking for an alternative.”
Ghosh said a search for an alternative by the Muslim voters has provided the AIMIM a toehold in Bengal. “The AIMIM is getting toehold in this State because the Muslim voters who had reposed faith in the Trinamool Congress are now leaning towards that party as they have felt cheated,” he said.
The State BJP president also said that the elections would have to be held by the central forces as no one had any faith in the State police. “The Bengal Police is a servant of the TMC and so the elections will have to be conducted by the CRPF,” he said.
Reacting to Ghosh’s statements senior Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim said that it was his ploy to divide the Muslim votes in the State. “By saying this the BJP is trying to divide votes in Bengal… this is why we have already said that AIMIM is an ally of the BJP… The voters from both the minority and majority communities in Bengal are conscious enough about the present political circumstances and hence they will take the right decision and one is sure that BJP will not be favoured by any of them.”
Incidentally Bengal Chief Minister had in a circuitous reference of the AIMIM said last year that some radical organizations with terror links were trying to make inroads in Bengal but would fail to win any seat in this State.
After winning five seats in Bihar the AIMIM leadership has declared that they would contest from Bengal where they have presence in more than 30 seats.
“Now that our organization has become stronger why should not find election in Bengal… of course we will,” AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said soon after the Bihar poll results.
In a separate development the Left and the Congress were meeting on Tuesday evening to decide on the seat-sharing and other conditions of their alliance, sources said.