Shah outlines BJP action plan, projects Dilip Ghosh as key face

Kolkata: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday outlined an action plan for the BJP’s West Bengal unit while reviewing its preparedness for the Assembly polls due early next year.

Addressing the party’s public representatives, both past and present, Shah sought to project a unified front, while indicating former state president Dilip Ghosh as one of the main faces of the saffron camp for 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 to the closed-door meeting attended by the party’s MPs, MLAs, civic body councillors and organisational portfolio holders.

Shah held the meeting to take stock of the BJP West Bengal unit’s preparedness for the Assembly polls next year, a state leader said. The union home minister reportedly held a separate meeting with Ghosh, alongside another 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.

Besides the state leaders, the meeting was also attended by the party’s central observers for Bengal, like Sunil Bansal, Bhupender Yadav, Biplab Deb and Amit Malviya.

According to a leader who attended the meeting, Shah instructed the public representatives to spend “at least four days a week in their constituencies and attend at least five street corner meetings daily” to strengthen their public outreach.

The leaders must prove their worth to the party in the next two months to gain eligibility for tickets for the upcoming state elections, the leader said.

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, he said.

About inviting Dilip Ghosh, who was perceived to have been pushed to the party’s “back bench” after visuals of him meeting Chief Minister 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 for the party in the months ahead.