BJP readies for fresh assault on TMC government: Sunil Bansal, will meet MPs, MLAs, district presidents and the state executive body

On August 22, BJP’s new minder for Bengal, Sunil Bansal, will meet MPs, MLAs, district presidents and the state executive body at the party’s Hastings office in Calcutta

Representational image. :File photo

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  19.08.22: The Bengal BJP will be holding multiple meetings over the next few days to chart the course for its attack on the Mamata Banerjee government over the alleged recruitment scam and the arrest of Trinamul heavyweights.

Sources in the BJP said at least two meetings and an event were being planned as part of an aggressive posture against Mamata and her party.On August 22, BJP’s new minder for Bengal, Sunil Bansal, will meet MPs, MLAs, district presidents and the state executive body at the party’s Hastings office in Calcutta.

Between August 26 and August 28, a three-day training programme has been scheduled for BJP leaders and workers.

Bansal’s meeting with his colleagues is being dubbed as a courtesy event where he will be formally introduced to BJP’s Bengal unit. Though he has frequented the state ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, this will be the first time he will meet his Bengal colleagues after replacing the controversial Kailash Vijayvargiya as the state’s minder.

Though the three-day training programme for BJP leaders and legislators will be “to teach them about the history of the party,” a source in the saffron camp said all the event would focus on how to exploit the situation arising out of the arrest of former minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamul’s Birbhum strongman Anubrata Mondal.

The source added one of the primary focus of these programmes would be to prepare a strategy about how to turn the embarrassment of the Trinamul into an advantage for the saffron camp.

“Our party leadership has sensed the emergence of a space to expand the party’s political base with the Trinamul on the back foot with their leaders getting embroiled in the SSC scam and cross-border smuggling of coal and cattle. It is an opportune moment to turn the tide in our favour,” said a state BJP vice-president.

The meetings will also deliberate on the party’s preparation to carry out the call for the march to Nabanna on September 7. The march will demand the arrest of accused Trinamul leaders and the resignation of the Mamata Banerjee government.

Three key leaders of the party — state chief Sukanta Majumdar, leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and national vice-president Dilip Ghosh — have been tasked with preparing for the event.

 The saffron camp hopes to lodge a massive political attack against the Trinamul through this event.Since the debacle in the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP has struggled to maintain its support base.

The party has also underperformed in all the polls since its setback in the Assembly elections. However, with the Trinamul riddled with allegations and arrests, the BJP hopes to turn things around ahead of the panchayat polls.