Bengal BJP divided on strategy for 2021 state polls

After the BJP's defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, poll managers of its West Bengal

unit are divided whether to push its aggressive strategy on the CAA-NRC or mellow it down and lace it with alternate

policies of governance. The BJP that recently suffered a defeat at the hands

of the AAP, which won the polls for the third consecutive time on the plank of good governance, is in two minds about its

strategy for 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal. According to state BJP sources, just like West Bengal

where the party won 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 Parliamentary polls, it had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats

in Delhi. "But within a few months, we saw that the results are

completely opposite in Lok Sabha polls and Assembly polls in Delhi. So we cannot take it for granted that just because we

won 18 seats in Bengal, we will also win the Assembly polls." "So we need to change our strategy for state

elections. It is not necessary that what works for national elections will also work for state polls. Our campaign should

not only highlight implementation of CAA and need for NRC. It should also lay similar stress on alternate and better

policies of governance," a senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

Since last year, the demand for NRC to weed out infiltrators and the new citizenship law has emerged as the

latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing them tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

Another section of the state BJP unit, considered close to state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, is of the opinion

that there is no need for a change in the party's strategy in West Bengal, as aggressive politics have yielded positive

results for the party. "If you want to counter a party like the TMC, you have

to keep up the tempo and your aggressive strategy. It has helped us. Our campaign on the issues of the new Citizenship

bill and the proposed NRC had yielded good results in Lok Sabha polls.

"If we change our strategy it will be considered that we are retreating. This would send a wrong message to our

party cadres. Obviously we will have an alternate set of governance policies but that doesn't mean diluting our

campaign over CAA-NRC," the BJP leader said.