KOLKATA: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday directed BJP public representatives to intensify grassroots outreach by spending at least four days a week in their constituencies and holding at least five street-corner meetings daily, as the party gears up for the upcoming state elections.
Setting clear performance benchmarks, Shah, during a closed-door meeting with party MPs, MLAs, civic body councillors, and organisational portfolio holders, asked them to “prove their worth” to be eligible for a party ticket to contest the high-stakes assembly elections, scheduled to be held in the next four months, according to a party leader present at the gathering.
Calling for cohesion within the party, Shah sought to project a unified front while indicating that former state president Dilip Ghosh would be one of the main faces of the saffron camp in the elections. Ghosh, who has largely stayed away from the forefront of the BJP’s activities in the state over the past several months, was also invited for the meeting, signalling his renewed importance.
Shah, considered the BJP’s chief poll strategist, also listened to the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha poll candidates about the advantages and difficulties they faced during their campaigns, and the factors contributing to their wins and losses, the leader said.
The meeting was held to take stock of the BJP West Bengal unit’s preparedness. The Union Home Minister reportedly also held a separate meeting with Ghosh, alongside former state president Sukanta Majumdar, incumbent Samik Bhattacharya, and the state’s leader of the opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, indicating bridging of gaps between the party’s old guns and the newer ones.
“I can’t say much, but you will see an active Dilip Ghosh in the 2026 polls. I was called to listen to my experiences and opinions,” Ghosh told reporters while leaving the venue.“Everyone in the party is energised. We will win the 2026 polls and bring about true change in this state,” Adhikari told reporters ahead of the meeting.
Besides the state leaders, the meeting was also attended by the party’s central observers for Bengal—Sunil Bansal, Bhupender Yadav, Biplab Deb, and Amit Malviya. About inviting Dilip Ghosh, who was perceived to have been pushed to the party’s “back bench” after visuals of him meeting CM Mamata Banerjee at the inauguration of the Jagannath Temple complex in Digha earlier this year were splashed across TV screens, the leader said the so-called “cooling off” period must now be over for him and he is likely to play a crucial role in the months ahead.