While the West Bengal BJP awaits its new state president, the party unit has extended its membership drive till the end of the year as the number of registered members is reportedly much lower than the target set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Earlier this week, BJP national general secretary and Bengal in-charge Sunil Bansal held a meeting to take stock of the situation, and party sources revealed that he expressed his displeasure as the Bengal unit was allegedly unable to register 30 lakh members.
Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya, who is in charge of the membership drive, said, “Only Sukanta Majumdar and I know the actual numbers. There is no truth in what is being said. We will achieve our target under any circumstance.”
While inaugurating the BJP’s membership drive ‘Sadasyata Abhiyan’ on October 27, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the party would come to power in West Bengal after the next Assembly polls if it could register 1 crore members in the state.
An internal party meeting was reportedly earlier held at the BJP office in central Kolkata by the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari with MLAs to understand why the legislators had not achieved the target and what strategy should be used further. However, many MLAs were absent at the meeting, indicating that there may be an internal rift within the party.
Ambika Roy, BJP MLA from Kalyani, stated, “We were busy with the Jharkhand elections, bypolls, and the Assembly elections, and thus could not reach the grassroots workers. Now that we are free, we have already started the membership drive. People want to join us but are unable to due to the atrocities of the ruling Trinamool, but we will certainly achieve the given target.”
Meanwhile, party MLA Agnimitra Paul admitted that there was a delay in starting the membership campaign, “Due to the RG Kar issue and other matters, there was a slight delay but now we are concentrating on this. For me, it is a big responsibility as I not only have to take care of Asansol North, but the entire Asansol district.”
BJP insiders stated that the performance of several districts like Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, Jhargram as well as North and South 24 Parganas was unsatisfactory. “Last time the membership drive was through missed calls. We started the drive during the festive season, then the paddy harvesting season began so the numbers were low. Now it has picked up pace and we will try our best. I myself have been travelling continuously for the past one month for this purpose,” said former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.
During his two-day visit in October, Amit Shah had said that the next big target for the BJP was to form a government in West Bengal. “We have won in Haryana. We will win in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. After that our target is Bengal,” he had stated. The state is scheduled to conduct the next Assembly polls in 2026.
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