Infighting: BJP’s old guards point fingers at current leadership over paltry numbers

Kolkata: A long-simmering infighting within the Bengal BJP has come out in open once again as the party’s old cadres/leaders are pointing fingers at the current leadership as they failed miserably to fulfill 1-crore membership drive till December 31, 2024 as set by their Central leaders.

The state BJP leaders tried all possible options to fulfill the target as they offered important posts within the organisation, prizes. Despite the fact, the BJP’s state unit struggled hard to make the halfway mark. According to sources, within the stipulated time of the membership drive, the state BJP managed to get less than 50 lakh primary membership. There were around 45,000 members collected this time. There are around 79,000 booths in Bengal. It means BJP fails the target of giving one active member in each booth.

There has been a fresh tussle between the old and new leaders as both the camps are claiming that more memberships were collected during their respective drives. BJP leaders belonging to the Dilip Ghosh camp claimed in 2018 when Ghosh was the state president, around 82 lakh memberships were collected through missed calls. They also claimed that the number of verified members stood at 68 lakh. A senior party leader belonging to the old camp claimed that the “main pillars” of the state BJP who have been doing the party for the past 30-35 years were kept in the sideline.

Leaders belonging to the camp of new set of leaders, however, rubbished the claim and said that during Ghosh’s time only 13 lakh members were only verified. Central BJP leaders in the middle of December held a review meeting with the state leaders where they expressed “unhappiness” over the membership drive. The BJP MLAs in the state were asked to spend more time in their respective constituencies after their membership drive that had set a target of bringing 1 crore members under its fold failed to yield desired numbers in almost all the districts. Even in places in North Bengal which were considered as a stronghold turned out to be a major embarrassment for the party. Several districts in North Bengal, including Jalpaiguri, did not yield desired numbers.

The Central BJP leaders had to extend the membership drive up to December 31 as the number of members registered is much lower. However, despite this, the state BJP failed to reach the halfway mark.