Nearly a month after he addressed party workers in the State, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah will visit West Bengal on Wednesday. Though the visit comes at a time when the party is grappling with inner discords and trying to regain the momentum of 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Shah is not scheduled to participate in any party programme.
He will make two public appearances at an event organised by business chamber and launch of a book on the life of founder of Jana Sangha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee.
“We had planned a public rally but cancelled it due to the flood situation in the State,” State BJP president Rahul Sinha said.
Though bringing people for a public rally remains a challenge for the State leadership, the BJP national leadership is more interested in sorting out the issues that concern its State unit of the party.
Moreover, Mr Shah’s visit comes on the day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. For the BJP president, it will be difficult to take on TMC on the day the party’s leader is meeting the Prime Minister.
To make things more difficult for the party, differences between State president Rahul Sinha and actor-turned-BJP politician Rupa Ganguly became evident. The State unit of the party is already struggling with inter-party squabbles and this new addition is making things more difficult for the party.
Of late, the BJP, which had taken on the Trinamool Congress in State’s Birbhum district, is losing its ground. While some leaders of the district have changed sides and joined TMC, some who has taken up allegations of violence against the ruling party have also withdrawn their cases.
The BJP on Tuesday decided to expel Hridoy Ghosh, son of Sagar Ghosh who was murdered allegedly by TMC supporters in 2013 during panchayat polls .
“We have expelled Hriday Ghosh for six years. Mr. Ghosh has turned the murder of his father Sagar Ghosh into a profit-seeking business for some small allurements by the TMC,” the BJP president said.
