Kolkata: With an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal in the next few months, the BJP is set to take out ''Paribartan Yatras'' across the state, a senior party leader said on Sunday.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told a press meet here that the yatras with a message of ''paribartan'' (change) will be held in different zones to bolster the party's connect with people before the polls. Elections to the 294-member state assembly are due in April-May.
"We had wanted to bring out similar ''Jan Sampark Abhijan'' across the state two and half years back but were not allowed by the administration. This time before the elections our ''Paribartan Yatras'' will strengthen the ties of the BJP with people of Bengal, who are angry with the corrupt Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime," Ghosh said.
A senior party leader said, the rallies will be taken out in five zones, each to be led by a central leader of the saffron party.
Talking to reporters after day-long deliberatons among state party leaders about the future strategy to fight the polls, Ghosh said, booth committees will be formed everywhere by January 31.
"Our aim is to strengthen booth-level organisations," he said.
Among others, BJP Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, leaders Babul Supriyo, Kolkata observer Sovan Chatterjee attended the organisational meeting.
State BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said party workers will reach out to every household to campaign for ''Aar Noy Annyay'' (Misdeeds won't be accepted any more) before the polls.
READ: TMC appoints Satabdi Roy as vice-president of party's West Bengal unit
Asked about the appointment of TMC MP Satabdi Roy as vice-president of the state unit of the ruling Trinamool Congress shortly after she voiced her grievances over the state of affairs in the party, Ghosh said, "with leaders deserting the party, the TMC is frantically trying to please the dissenters by offering them posts."
Faced with disintegration and "civil war within itself", the TMC is "desperately" bringing the names of icons such as Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda to attack the BJP now and again and harping on the issue of Bengali heritage, Ghosh said.
On seat-sharing talks between the Left Front and the Congress, the BJP leader said "everyone knows what happened to the seat sharing alliance between them in 2016 assembly polls. How many seats had they won? Even in 2019 Lok Sabha polls the Left and the Congress could not make much dent. The two parties have been reduced to virtual non-entities here."
During the 2016 assembly elections, the two parties had stitched an alliance and bagged 76 seats.
However, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the two parties had fought separately and while the Congress won two seats, the Left Front, which ruled the state from 1977-2011, drew a blank.
Leaders of the TMC have called upon the Congress and the Left to join the battle against the BJP as "they are scared to face us alone. By such antics they are only exposing themselves before the people of the state", he said.
Asked about comments by TMC strongman in Birbhum Anubrata Mondal to "beat up the BJP and throw them away beyond boundaries (thengiye pagarpar)," Ghosh said, "the people of Birbhum will give a befitting reply to Mondal".
BJP leaders claimed that around 200 TMC workers from South 24 Parganas district joined the saffron party on Sunday.
PTI
