BJP looking for woman "face" in West Bengal to counter Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi: As factionalism continues to rage in the BJP’s West Bengal unit, the party’s spin doctors are looking at the option of a picking a prominent woman “face” in the state to counter Trinamul Congress chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

A section of state BJP leaders close to Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, have mounted tacit pressure on the BJP high command to “marginalise” former state unit chief Dilip Ghosh. The followers of both leaders have also locked horns in the social media. While Mr Ghosh's followers on Facebook hit out at Mr Adhikari for alleged involvement in Narada scams, Mr Adhikari’s faction posted photos of Mr Ghosh sharing the dais with TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.

As the turf war continues to rage between these two leaders, Mr Ghosh seems to be getting somewhat impatient. It was learnt that after his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP high command has gone cold on him. “I have been waiting to hear from the party leadership. There has been no communication from them till date,” Mr Ghosh told a Bengal TV channel. Mr Ghosh said that despite “doing my best, the results were in the TMC’s favour”. He added: “Let me see what the party thinks about my future.” The former BJP West Bengal chief insisted that party workers were visiting his house to know about his future plans.

“Party workers are coming to my place and want to know my future plans,” he said. Mr Ghosh said he was “waiting for instructions” from the Delhi bosses. It may be recalled that after his defeat from Burdwan-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Ghosh alleged he was a “victim of conspiracy”.

As for projecting a fresh face in the state, it was argued that a popular woman leader could help the BJP to make inroads into the women’s vote bank in West Bengal. Women comprise 50 per cent of the electorate in the state. Despite the BJP’s efforts to bank on the alleged sexual assault on women at Sandeshkhali, the majority of the women leaned towards Ms Banerjee. The Delhi BJP leadership is reportedly on the lookout for a woman leader who can become the party’s “face”. The strategists are also stressing on selecting a state unit president who has no links with either the Adhikari or Ghosh's camps. The strategists feel both Mr Adhikari and Mr Ghosh were “tried and tested” and have repeatedly “failed to deliver”. However, they acknowledged that the BJP gained in the state with Dilip Ghosh as the state unit chief.

The reports from local leaders also indicated that in the “land of Durga and Kali, the projection of Lord Ram will not work”. It was pointed out during post-poll meetings that the national BJP leaders’ move to hype the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and hold Ram Navami processions in the state had “boomeranged” for the party. It was felt that a majority of Bengalis and voters in Bengal did not respond positively to the BJP’s attempt to “promote Lord Ram in the state”. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior BJP leader felt the BJP high command “will have to change its approach” towards West Bengal before the 2026 Assembly elections in the state.