Bengal BJP evaluating leaders’ performance, set for major overhaul

With an eye on 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal, the state’s BJP unit is all set for a major overhaul with the party deciding to revamp the organisation by removing inactive leaders from key posts and bring in young and able organisers in the party.

The state unit is preparing an evaluation report of the performance of all its office bearers, based on which it will be decided whether or not they would get a place in the next committee, a senior BJP leader said.

The effectiveness and participation of state leaders in the pro-CAA campaign in the last two months will be a key benchmark for those who wish to be in the committee, he said.

The party will also revamp its organisational districts for better coordination and functioning. The development comes weeks after Dilip Ghosh was re-elected as the state president for the second consecutive time.

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Confirming that there will be changes in the state committee, Ghosh told PTI that the final list will be prepared after discussion with the central leadership.

Asked whether new faces will be inducted in the state body, Ghosh said, “Just wait for a few days, everything will be clear.’

Just after Ghosh’s re-election in January, a party meeting in presence of central leaders has decided that inactive leaders would be axed to pave way for new and young ones, a source in the state BJP said.

“The entire organisational set up will be revamped. It will be turned into leaner and more effective machinery. Not only the leaders with RSS-BJP background but also those who have come from the TMC and other parties will be accommodated,” A senior state BJP leader told PTI.

“Presently an evaluation report of all the leaders is being prepared. It is being done on several parameters such as organisational capabilities, working style and functioning during elections. Only those who clear this test will be included in the committee. Others will be out,” he said.

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He said the party will draw talents from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“Leaders who have joined from the TMC and other parties will also be accommodated and will be given additional responsibilities,” the BJP source said.

Earlier, the BJP was not a force to reckon with in West Bengal but the political equations have changed and the party has become the main opposition of the ruling TMC.

“The state committee will be a mix of old and young homegrown leaders and those who have joined from other parties,” another state BJP office-bearer said.

The state BJP presently has five general secretaries. One of the posts fell vacant after Debasree Chaudhuri was elected as an MP and then made a union minister. “Most likely, the party will have seven general secretaries. Talks are also on for creating a post of working president,” the party office-bearer said.

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That a change is coming is evident from the party’s internal polls held in December last year. Fifteen out of 39 organisational district presidents have been changed, one of the highest rate of revamping in the last two decades.

“Several organisational districts will be clubbed for better functioning. Kolkata and its suburbs are now divided into four organisational districts. These will be clubbed to create two organisational districts,” another BJP leader said.

The Trinamool Congres, however, is not attaching much importance to the proposed organisational restructuring of the saffron party.

“This hardly matters. They need to broaden their mind-set first and shun the politics of divisiveness and hatred. But that is very unlikely to happen,” TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.