District overhaul awaits BJP in Bengal

A three-member committee has prepared a list of organisational areas that it wishes to delimit

The committee was set up by BJP joint general secretary (organisation) Shivprakash who looks after the party’s affairs in Bengal.: Shutterstock

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   24.09.21: The Assembly poll setback has taken the Bengal BJP back to the drawing board as the state leadership is eyeing a structural overhaul of the organisation.

A three-member committee set up by BJP joint general secretary (organisation) Shivprakash, who looks after the party’s affairs in Bengal, has prepared a list of organisational districts that it wishes to delimit.

“This is a complete organisational restructuring. We need to shrink the size of many districts where we are weak. It is easier to concentrate on smaller units,” a state BJP functionary said. “The list has been prepared accordingly,” this person added.

While Bengal has 23 administrative districts, for the BJP, the state is divided into 39 organisational districts. Although the new rejig will not bring about much change in the number, several districts will shrink in size while others will expand, party sources said.

One of the internal analyses of the poll debacle, done by the party, has shown BJP leaders that while the party’s organisation is strong in all districts of north Bengal and some districts in the west, it is still quite weak in the south.

On the basis of this report, Shivprakash had asked state BJP vice-presidents Biswapriyo Roy Chowdhury, Ritesh Tiwari and Raju Banerjee to look into the matter and a prospective delimitation.

“The number of districts will mostly remain unchanged. The proposal is to break away parts of an existing weak district and join them in a district that looks organisationally stronger,” another BJP source said.

Brawl

Bengal BJP president and Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar got involved in a brawl with Calcutta police near chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence on Thursday.

Majumdar and a few other BJP leaders, including the party’s Bhowanipore bypoll candidate Priyanka Tibrewal, were leading a convoy of cars carrying the corpse of Dhurjati Saha. Saha, a BJP candidate in the summer polls, had allegedly been beaten up by Trinamul goons on May 2. He passed away on Wednesday.

On their way to the crematorium, Majumdar got out of his car and sat on the crossing near Mamata’s home. The police immediately removed him. The area is under Section 144.

Majumdar later said he would ask Tibrewal, who is a lawyer, to file a case against the police for harassing women members of the BJP.