Nadda to try resolve infighting in Bengal BJP amidst presidential election blues

BJP president JP Nadda reached Kolkata on Tuesday evening to resolve infighting in the party’s Bengal unit amidst fear of fresh defections of its legislators and parliamentarians hurting the party’s prospect in the ensuing presidential elections.

Besieged by internal squabbling and infighting, the BJP’s strength in the Bengal assembly has reduced from 77 to 70 while the number of its Lok Sabha MPs from the state too plummeted after the desertion of Babul Supriyo and Arjun Singh.

The BJP-led NDA’s strength in the electoral college that elects the president is marginally less than the combined strength of the opposition, keeping the saffron brigade edgy about any possible cross voting.

The party has 48.9 per cent vote share going by the total number of its MPs and MLAs that constitute the electoral college. All opposition parliamentarians and legislators together make up for 51.1 per cent vote share, which is 2.2 per cent more than the BJP’s strength.

The computation means to get its candidate elected, the BJP will have to ensure that there is no desertion from its camp while it gets support from fence sitters such as Biju Janata Dal of Odisha and YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh.

In this political arithmetic, the BJP’s Bengal legislators have an added importance as the value of votes of MLAs from the state is higher than most states.

While the value of a vote of an MP remains uniform at 708, in case of MLAs it varies from state to state based on population (as per 1971 census) and number of assembly constituencies.

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Value of a vote of each of the Bengal legislators is 151. The combined worth of the 70 BJP MLAs from the state is 10,570.

The BJP also has 16 Lok Sabha MPs from the state. Besides, two TMC Lok Sabha members Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mandal too switched over to the saffron party ahead of the 2021 assembly elections.

The BJP insiders say the party is not sure about getting the votes of many of its Bengal MLAs and at least three MPs, including that of Mandal’s.

“We are aware that at least two dozen of our MLAs and at least three MPs are in constant touch with the TMC. This is a matter of concern for us ahead of the presidential elections,” said a senior BJP leader.

Nadda during his two-day stay in Bengal will hold meetings with MLAs and MPs and the newly-constituted working committee of the state unit, said BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar.

Party sources said several rounds of meetings are lined up with MLAs and MPs as Nadda will hear out their grievances in a bid to stem the possible exodus.

The infighting within the BJP state unit has become so intense that there was an altercation among the party workers who had gone to the airport to receive Nadda.

Earlier in the day, two groups of BJP workers fought among themselves in front of the state president at a party’s organisational meeting at Barrackpore.

Only last week, the BJP national general secretary Arun Singh in a letter cautioned the party’s former state unit chief and MP Dilip Ghosh against making any public comment about party leaders.

Ghosh, who is also the BJP’s national vice president, recently stated that the party’s new state unit chief, Sukanta Majumdar, is an inexperienced leader.

“Naddaji will take stock of the situation and will try to convince the leaders to iron out their differences,” the BJP leader said.

Nadda’s firefighting bid in Bengal BJP is part of the party’s recent initiatives to mobilise support for the presidential elections, she added.

The BJP has already started backroom parleys with its allies and fence sitters to secure the win of its candidates.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is reportedly holding parleys with BJD leader and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while senior BJP Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao is in touch with YSR Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan also recently flew to Patna to seek the support of JD(U) supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has a track record of ditching his allies in the presidential elections.

In 2012 he had backed the candidature of the Congress’s nominee Pranab Mukherjee despite being an ally of the BJP.

Similarly, in 2017 when he was part of the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress, he had backed the NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind instead of opposition nominee Meira Kumar.

India will have to elect a new President by July 24.