Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The BJP in West Bengal is bracing to groom new generation of leadership with a focus on leaders who can match the street power of the ruling Trinamool Congress. The central leaders and those from outside are likely to stay away to allow the rise of the local leadership.
The BJP has seemingly taken the view that the party will now need to grow slowly without the ‘quick’ help of turncoats. It is also learnt to have decided that the task of bypoll campaign in the eastern state will remain with the local leadership.
The appointment of BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar is in line with the strategy to pass on the baton to the younger leaders who can withstand the “pressure tactics” of the TMC. “The BJP will stick to growing slowly. It’s going to be a long journey, and the leaders who are relatively younger will be shouldering much of the responsibilities in the state,” said a senior BJP functionary.
The BJP has assigned the task to see through the bypoll campaign to the state co-incharge Amit Malviya. Unlike the Assembly elections, the BJP is learnt to be not fielding leaders from outside even as it seeks to put up a spirited contest against Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur.
The BJP functionary stated that the party leaders are being slapped with a spate of criminal cases in the state. “Bengal is posing a lot of challenges, including intimidation. It’s going to be a case of survival of the fittest. But, the BJP will hold out strongly by promoting the young leadership.” said the functionary.
The BJP, incidentally, had fielded a full battery of its leaders from other states in Bengal during the Assembly elections, which was seen to have been exploited by the ruling TMC to build the local versus outsider narrative against the saffron outfit.
