Bengal 4 in cabinet, BJP focus on state

KOLKATA: Four fresh faces from West Bengal made it to the Union cabinet in the reshuffle on Wednesday, sending indications that BJP hadn’t lost focus on the state.
BJP’s Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik, Alipurduar MP John Barla, Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar and Bongaon MP and Matua leader Shantanu Thakur will be junior ministers.
Incumbent junior ministers Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri resigned from the cabinet to make way for the new entrants.
In effect, there have been two more additions this time after BJP’s poor show in the Bengal assembly polls when only two were inducted into the Union cabinet after the party’s impressive performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The induction process bears out that BJP stands committed to consolidating its support bases in north Bengal, Jangalmahal and the Matua belt in North 24 Parganas by roping in Rajbanshis, Namasudras, Paliyas and Adivasis mainly working in farmlands and tea gardens rather than picking up faces from south Bengal, where the party didn’t perform well in assembly polls.
The BJP is ahead of Trinamool among these sections as is evident from the results in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Bankura and Bongaon.
Outgoing Union minister Supriyo let the party have its way. He made amends to his “asked to resign” Facebook comment and said on social media: “Yes, I have resigned from the Council of Ministers. As I had framed it earlier, ‘Asked to resign’ may not be the right way to put it.”
“I am extremely happy that I go today without a spot of corruption on me,” he added.
Debasree Chaudhuri, the other outgoing Union minister, had no angst. She rose from the ranks and was BJP observer for the party’s Kolkata unit. BJP sources said Debasree would be back to organization work.
Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh didn’t read much into the reshuffle.
“It’s nothing special. People become ministers and after some time, they are back to serve the organization. Those who joined this party as a launching pad to power are not aware of this. When they get upset, they speak out, ignoring party discipline,” he said.