Nadda on West Bengal tour to stem desertion of BJP leaders
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 6: The Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda will be travelling to West Bengal for two days amid the party’s state unit besieged with faction-fighting and desertion of the leaders.
Nadda will be in West Bengal during June 8-9. He will preside over the meeting of the state executive committee of the BJP. He’s also slated to hold a number of closed door meetings in Kolkata.
The BJP chief is travelling to West Bengal at a time when the state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee upped the ante against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government as the Cabinet in Kolkata approved a proposal to make her the chancellor of the state universities.
The move of the West Bengal government is against the norms since Governor of the state happens to be the Chancellor of Universities. However, the West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has been on the loggerheads with the Trinamool Congress-led state government.
The TMC has taken a delegation to call on the Union Minister for Home Affairs to press for the demand for the removal of the Governor while claiming that he has been working against the Constitutional provision.
Nadda’s task, however, is very pointed to stem the desertion of the BJP leaders. The BJP after losing the state Assembly elections in 2020 is seen struggling to retain its flock of the MPs and MLAs from the state.
The faction-fighting within the state unit of the BJP ranks had come to the fore after the party’s national general secretary Arun Singh had to issue an official warning to the former party chief in the state Dilip Ghosh. Singh had cautioned Ghosh not to make remarks which can embarrass the party leadership. Ghosh is the BJP national vice president while also being the Lok sabha MP.
Nadda will be holding a meeting of the BJP MLAs in the state. The central BJP leadership continues to back Suvendu Adhikari, who is Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
While the old guards in the state unit of the BJP remain disgruntled after the party’s central leadership propped up Adhikari, he’s seen to be long-term bait for the saffron outfit who can take on Mamata Banerjee.
Adhikari had defeated Banerjee in the Assembly elections from the high-stake Nandigram constituency.
Nadda will also be meeting the party leaders from Zila Panchayat and local bodies in his bid to rally the morale of the cadre in the state.
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