BJP starts preparations for West Bengal assembly polls, sharp focus on 190 seats

By Pragya Kaushika
New Delhi [India], July 25 : BJP has begun preparations for West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for the next year with senior party leaders holding marathon meetings in the national capital.
Sources said the party has decided to consolidate its strength in around 190 seats in the 295-member assembly and not to waste available resources on seats where the Trinamool Congress holds sway over the majority of the voter base.
"TMC's politics caters to a certain vote base and it will not go anywhere as the government is in power in the state and will do everything to polarise the votes. These are 80-100 odd seats. So, the plan is to focus the strength and energy on 190 odd seats," a source in the party said.
For the past three days, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has called district presidents to discuss preparations of the party and strengths and weaknesses in each assembly constituency.
Ghosh said they cover four constituencies every day in the meeting being held in Delhi.
"Every day we cover four assembly constituencies. We started from July 23 and covered Cooch Behar, Alipur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling. Yesterday there was a meeting of Balurghat, Raiganj, Malda North and South. Today meeting was held for Jangipur, Behrampur, Murshidabad, Krishna Nagar. We are deliberating what are the issues and how can we prepare ourselves. We call two office-bearers from each district every day. We are doing it in Delhi so that there won't be a problem of quarantine for Delhi leaders," Ghosh told ANI.
Sources said that apart from district presidents who were called on short notice, MPs too have been called to seek the feedback and allocate tasks to strengthen the party on the grassroots.
The party is also keeping an eye on the emerging equations and hoping to benefit from it. With Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis- e- Ittehadul Muslimeen having declared its intention to contest the assembly polls in the state, the voting pattern in minority-dominated areas is likely to change.
"Owaisi will eat into minority votes of TMC. There are seats that will be taken away by Congress and Left. So, if we are able to ensure a strong base in 190 seats, no-one can stop us from coming to power in Bengal in the next polls," the source said.
A senior functionary present at the meeting said attempts are being made to reach out to the minority community also.
"We are trying to reach out to minorities as well by giving examples of how everyone including the minority community benefitted from central government schemes. It is not that all votes of minorities go to either TMC or the Left parties, " the source said.