In a sweeping change, West Bengal BJP has brought in new faces by removing some old timers including few hard-core RSS men.
The most important change has been carried out among general secretaries with Sayantan Basu and Sanjay Singh, both known as hard-core RSS leaders, shown the door.
New inductees as general secretaries include nationally acclaimed fashion designer Agnimitra Paul and Jagannath Chattopadhyay, journalist-turned-politician and a former ABVP man. Purulia MP Jyotipriyo Mahato, who did exceptionally well in the last assembly elections, was made general secretary. Dilip Ghosh loyalist Biswapriya Roychowdhury and Pratap Banerjee have been removed from the committee. Both Sayantan and Sanjay, who were powerful general secretaries, were also Ghosh loyalists.
Locket Chatterjee who is now in charge of the party in Uttarakhand, has been given a second term as the general secretary.
With these changes, as effected by J.P. Nadda and B.L. Santosh, the party has sent a clear signal to non-performers. And more Suvendu Adhikary loyalists have been given priority in the party. Does that mean, the era of Suvendu has begun in the BJP? Said a senior BJP leader who has been ousted, "Yes, you can say that." During the last five months, Suvendu was seen in the field against the TMC. No prominent BJP national level leaders were seen during the last corporation elections in Kolkata. Suvendu was the only man who hit the ground with his MLAs.
With TMC’s massive victory in the corporation elections, Nadda-Santosh have decided to rebuild the organisation. However, even with more young blood in the committee, many lack experience which might pose a big challenge for the BJP.
Nadda will arrive in Kolkata on January 2 for a two-day visit. This committee, which has more and more rural faces, has been set up with an eye on upcoming rural body polls and panchayat elections within two years.