This achievement could be gained by the efforts of the poll strategist Prashant Kishor to boost the party's organisational strength and bring about an image makeover. A month back he through his forum the Indian Political Action Committee (I-Pac), launched the "Youth in Politics" initiative in order to draw interested youths, aged between 18 and 35, to the ruling party.

This moves close on the heels of the Ghar Wapasi campaign launched by the party to re-induct the leaders and cadres who had left the party for BJP. In fact to counter the latest desertion from its rank the BJP too had decided to initiate the process of enticing young faces. But even before the BJP could give a shape to its programme, the Kishore started the drive particularly high politicised districts of Calcutta, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, Birbhum, Malda, Cooch Behar and East Midnapore.

If the sources are to be believed "I-Pac has already registered 4 lakh fresh faces. This is part of the measures to refurbish the image of the party and infuse young blood before the before the Assembly polls in 2021. Sunday's induction event was the first leg of the enrolment and two more phases would be held.

Most of them are new to the party and have been motivated by the leadership quality of Mamata Banerjee. The sources close to Kishore say that the youths joined after being fascinated by developmental work undertaken by the Trinamool government. Besides the primary reason for their inclination towards the TMC has been communal hatred being spread by the BJP leaders. These people nurse the view that the BJP was endangering the cultural ethos of the state.

Meanwhile old BJP leaders and cadres are quite annoyed with the sectarian and communal politics being pursued by the present state president Dilip Ghosh. It is said daring to defy the whim of the top boss Amit Shah, whose blessings Ghosh enjoys, some senior leaders are busy preparing the ground for projection of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy as the chief ministerial candidate. Roy has already expressed his ‘desire to make a comeback into West Bengal’s mainstream politics ahead of the polls’.

What has gone against Dilip Ghosh is his running feud with the Mamata confidante-turned-BJP leader Mukul Roy. Even old timers credit him with infusing new life in the party which was till a couple of years a political pariah for Bengali people. They allege that Dilip was simply intending to take advantage of this situation.

With assembly elections due early next year in West Bengal, the BJP has embarked on a discreet mission to find a ‘strong leader’ who can take on Mamata Banerjee in the state. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the party had won 18 out of 42 seats – an impressive performance in a state where it had only two seats.

It is widely believed that Dilip does not fit into that mode. His jibes and aggressive stance has even alienated his own party men. He is not popular among the traditional Bengali population, whose support is essentially needed for better performance. Though BJP had shown better performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that cannot be taken as the yard stick. That was an extra ordinary situation. More over after that election the BJP has lost most of the by elections held in the state. Some web channels based on the Lok Sabha performance have been predicting a fair win for the BJP in the 2021 assembly election. But it is entirely wrong. Of late the TMC has anchored more effectively.

The party believes that a division in its state leadership would dent its chance of replacing the TMC government in 2021 forget the possibility of any chance to pull down. Ghosh is yet to find acceptance among Bengali intellectuals and the middle class, whose support is essential to become a popular political face in Bengal. He is not taken seriously by the people. To overcome this shortcoming, the party has to widen its reach to find a more acceptable face and probably a chief minister candidate.

Recently, Ramakrishna Math and Mission (RKM) monk Swami Kripakarananda was being projected on social media as the CM candidate for the BJP. Known as Debotosh Chakraborty in his pre-monastic life, Kripakarananda was a student of Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission. He is a doctor from Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital and a trained classical singer. He is currently posted in a Varanasi hospital.

Tathagat Roy had a distinguished academic and professional career but his electoral performances have been quite poor. He could not win in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Despite connecting well with Bengali intellectuals, Roy had difficulties connecting with the grassroots and often fell out of people’s favour for his controversial statements.

One thing is absolutely clear that the Bengalis of the state whether those migrated and settled in sixties or the traditional Bengalis, have a strong connection with the BJP. The Hindi speaking settlers those who migrated from Bihar and Eastern UP, have been the support base. These people have their own priorities and interests. Earlier they were with the CPI(M) and now they have switched over to the BJP.

They are the emerging economic power of the state and obviously want to ally with a political party which can ensure their progress and prosperity. These Hindus are in the business of real estate. They are facing stiff challenge from the Muslims hailing from Gaya, Nalanda and Nawada districts of Bihar as they too have been in the business of real estate. Almost all the malls and business locations are controlled by them. Usually the two sides enter into violent clashes for protecting their business interest. (IPA Service)