Several Bengal BJP leaders summoned to Delhi for at least two meetings of significant relevance

While one meeting will be addressed by senior leaders of RSS, other will be chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar, TT, Calcutta, 24.07.23 : Several Bengal BJP leaders have been summoned to Delhi for at least two meetings of “significant relevance”, according to party sources.

While one of the meetings will be addressed by senior leaders of the RSS, the BJP's ideological parent, the other will be chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah.

The meetings are scheduled on Monday and are likely to be attended by the BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh as well.

Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, the leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty, his deputy Satish Dhond, the party’s minders for Bengal Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey, and a state general secretary Jagannath Chatterjee left for Delhi on Sunday night.

Party vice-president and MP Dilip Ghosh will also be in Delhi, but sources said it would be to attend Parliament. He is not likely to be in the meetings.

"A host of things are to be discussed at these meetings, such as panchayat poll results, the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the violence and assault that BJP workers have been subjected to, (imposition of) Article 355 (in Bengal) and an imminent reshuffle in the state (party) unit,” a source aware of the developments told The Telegraph.

The two meetings are likely to lay down a blueprint on how the party would go about in securing the 35-seat target in Bengal for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Bengal has 42 parliamentary seats.

Given the BJP's performance in the panchayat polls, the 35-seat target in the general elections, set by Shah, appears far-fetched right now.

The saffron camp has tried to portray its performance in the 2023 Bengal rural polls as extraordinary. The BJP won nearly 12,000 seats across the three tiers. However, the party’s poll percentage went down from 38 in the 2021 Assembly polls to around 23 in the 2023 rural polls.

"The BJP has not been able to perform well in north Bengal and Jungle Mahal even though these are known as our strongholds. The top tiers of RSS and our party know these are not signs of a strong future,” a source said.

A similar concern was raised by the national vice-president Ghosh at a recent internal meeting.

The Delhi visit is important for another reason. It is being strongly rumoured that a key individual in the BJP's state organisation will be given a more important role in Delhi. That name is likely to emerge now.

Majumdar and Adhikari have been publicly demanding in Bengal the imposition of Article 355 — a constitutional provision that allows the Centre to take control of the state’s law and order situation — citing the alleged political violence unleashed by the Trinamul cadres during and after the panchayat polls.

RSS leaders are likely to seek the views of the leaders on the matter and express their own.

At both the meetings — with Shah and the RSS — the Bengal BJP leaders are likely to be lectured on the need to work together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. That Bengal BJP is a divided house is an open secret.