National BJP leaders in wait-and-see mode

The national BJP team has adopted a ‘wait and watch’ mode to address the situation in West Bengal after its national vice-president Mukul Roy and his son rejoined the TMC. This defection, according to many senior leaders, is symptomatic of a larger problem of dissent among the party leaders and workers. This comes even as there are speculations about the party banking on Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari as the face of the party.

Senior party leaders told ET that the BJP is waiting for the situation to play out in the state, before the organisation starts rebuilding itself again.

“In the last few months, many people with artificial leanings have come to the party. There was large-scale suspicion as to who is working for whom. But now that the elections are not here, the party has the time and only those who don’t seek short-term benefits will stay,” a party functionary said.

“At least, the CM was there, protesting for the release. In our case, we have even requested the law minister to look into the false cases being lodged against our workers, but the party has done little,” the party functionary said.

A Delhi-based BJP leader said the party was now looking at critical matters of organisation in states such as UP, Uttarakhand and Gujarat which are heading for assembly polls and in MP and Karnataka where there have been some concerns over the government’s functioning.

"We will not leave an opportunity to call out and rally against the TMC government, but the dust of the election has to settle down,” the leader said.

TMC leaders who had joined the BJP such as Saumitra Khan and Anupam Hazra have also spoken out against some mistakes made by the party for giving some people more importance over others. While many have questioned the effectiveness of Dilip Ghosh as BJP president –– the party won just 2 of the 18 seats in his constituency –– some have also flagged the projection of Suvendu Adhikari as the face of the party.

“Suvendu’s methods are different from our party but the party leadership has made it clear he is the future. Our performance in the Hindu-dominated first two phases was much below expectation. Many OBC groups and Hindi speakers did not vote for us. This shows we have to rework our strategy,” another functionary said.

Apart from leaders such as Sabyasachi Dutta and Rajib Banerjee, there are many who are expected to leave the party, particularly after the exit of Mukul Roy who was responsible for getting many people into the party and building its cadre base, a BJP functionary said, adding that Roy had shown a lot of reluctance to fighting election - he fought from Krishnanagar and won.

"Once his name was announced, he completely withdrew from planning and focussed only on his seat. His understanding of Bengal administration was not used in these polls at all," he added.

West Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya was missing from the recent meeting of the core group of the party, and according to senior leaders, largely involved in the party’s affairs in Madhya Pradesh. Questions have been raised over the absence of leaders such as the party's matua face Shantanu Thakur from organisational meetings.

While eleven ministers were given different roles in the state to campaign during the polls, after the results, most of them have stayed away from the state and the post poll violence that followed, barring BJP president JP Nadda who had visited some affected families.

Political analyst Bishwanath Chakraborty said Roy’s exit would relieve him and many in the BJP who suspected that he was working for the TMC throughout.

“The social acceptance of BJP has reduced after the polls as in villages, supporters of the party are being hounded. Now, you hardly see even ten workers of the BJP in a village. The party has to rework its strategy keeping in mind the significance of both Muslim votes and the influence of the Left-liberal tradition on people here.”