BJP West Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh said that he will not be contesting the assembly elections in West Bengal. "My name won't be there in the list of candidates contesting polls. Being state chief, the party has decided that poll campaigns in the state will be done under my supervision," he said in Kolkata, reported news agency ANI.
With assembly elections imminent, the announcement comes as a bit of surprise given that Ghosh—an RSS strongman—was widely projected the chief ministerial frontrunner. An RSS leader in Kolkata had told THE WEEK that, when he was a vibhag pracharak, Ghosh’s job was to ensure discipline in the RSS. “He dealt with highly committed people and created his own group in the organisation,” he said. Pre-polls, Ghosh had become more aggressive on the ground and got more public attention.
Earlier, Ghosh had said that the BJP's ideology, its expanding organisational strength, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity are its strengths, while the lack of popular faces in the party at various levels in the state is one of the drawbacks for the saffron camp in the elections. "West Bengal is important for the BJP not only because of our origin in the state as Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was born here but also because the country's security is linked with it. We have waited for long for an opportunity to come to power in the state. This is our mission and challenge," he said.
"India's border with Bangladesh that West Bengal shares is the most unsafe in the country. The Centre has been able to bring peace in Kashmir and other disturbed areas but the eastern borders have turned into a transit point for terror elements to infiltrate into the country to create unrest," he said.
Exuding confidence of coming to power in West Bengal with a two-thirds majority, Ghosh said the TMC government has failed and betrayed the aspirations of the people of the state, who had voted it to power in 2011.
Elections to the 294-member assembly, poised to be a stiff contest between the BJP and the Centre, will be held in eight phases from March 27 to April 29. The results will be declared on May 2. The BJP has been able to "knock the door of the seat of power" due to the martyrdom of hundreds of party workers and the indomitable spirit of the activists in the state but lack of popular faces at various levels is a drawback for the party in the elections, he said.
-Inputs from PTI
