BJP Working To Defeat Mamata, Over 83% Polling Booths Already Covered: Bengal BJP Chief

The BJP has expanded its presence to over 83 per cent of polling booths in West Bengal and is relentlessly working on the ground to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in the upcoming assembly polls, with Amit Shah and J P Nadda galvanising the rank and file with their regular visits, party state president Dilip Ghosh said on Wednesday.

The BJP has kick-started its campaign for the assembly elections slated for early next year and is challenging the Trinamool Congress at the hustings with the new slogan of "Ei baar Bangla, parle samla (Now it's Bengal's turn, hold on to it if you can)", Ghosh told PTI, referring to the recent victory of the NDA in Bihar polls.

In this election in West Bengal it will be a direct fight between the BJP and the TMC, he said, dubbing both the Left parties and the Congress as a spent force.

Hinting at defections of TMC leaders to his party ahead of the polls, Ghosh said that even leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led party are feeling suffocated and looking for "oxygen of freedom", whereas the BJP is a democratic party with "a number of oxygen cylinders".

Ghosh said that for effective management of the party's campaign, the BJP has divided the state in five zones -- Medinipur, north Bengal, Kolkata, Nabadwip and Rahr Bongo -- on the basis of local issues and their characteristics.

The party has expanded its footprint in the state and now has presence in over 65,000 (or over 83 per cent) polling booths out of the total 78,000, he said.

National party leaders, including J P Nadda and Amit Shah, will visit the state every month, he said. "Amit Shah-ji is expected to visit the state every month and his presence will boost the morale of party workers," he added.

Though the BJP has a marginal presence in the Assembly, it has emerged as the main challenger to the TMC in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, pushing aside the Left parties and the Congress.

It won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, only four less than the TMC's 22.

The party has now focused on winning the state from the TMC. Election to the 294-member state assembly is scheduled to be held in the first half of 2021.