BJP Bengal chief to meet party workers weekly at new grievance redressal programme

Kolkata, Aug 25 (PTI) With just a few months to go before the assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP’s newly appointed state president Samik Bhattacharya is set to roll out a fresh weekly outreach programme aimed at mending factional feuds and energising the party’s rank and file.

From next month, Bhattacharya will hold an interactive session every Monday at the party’s state headquarters in central Kolkata, listening to complaints and suggestions from party workers between 2 PM and 6 PM.

“The BJP is like one big family. Every week I will meet party workers and have a freewheeling chat on various issues,” Bhattacharya said.

Party insiders said the move is aimed at addressing growing discontent among booth-level workers who complain of neglect by state leaders, even as the BJP struggles to maintain momentum after a spirited rise in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and a disappointing assembly election in 2021.

The initiative is intended to rebuild trust between the leadership and cadres at a time when the state unit is plagued by factionalism and a perceptible sense of disillusionment among booth-level workers.

“Unless the organisation is united and disciplined, we cannot hope to take on the ruling TMC in a head-to-head battle,” a senior BJP leader said.

Despite repeated protests over various “irregularities” of the TMC dispensation like the teachers’ recruitment scandal, the state BJP has been unable to keep pace with the Trinamool Congress’s organisational machinery.

Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar have pressed corruption as the saffron camp’s main plank, but persistent internal squabbles have blunted the attack.

Bhattacharya, who took charge from Majumdar in July, has been tasked with both healing rifts and sharpening the party’s election apparatus.

“Strengthening the organisation is the only way to challenge TMC on equal footing,” a senior BJP leader said, noting that Bhattacharya’s initiative is designed to bridge the trust gap between the leadership and the grassroots.

With just months left before the electoral bugle sounds, the saffron camp is betting on Bhattacharya’s outreach to not only calm internal tempers but also inject fresh energy into its campaign against the ruling TMC. PTI PNT NN