Bengal civic polls: Insiders blame loss on weak BJP organization

NEW DELHI: BJP which bagged two Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal but doubled its vote share in the state from 6 to 17% only a year back, had a poor showing on Tuesday when the party drew a blank in 91 municipalities across the state apart from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in the civic polls swept by Trinamool Congress.

While BJP leadership has blamed the results on rigging by TMC and a reign of violence unleashed by the ruling party during the municipal polls, some party insiders in the state are reluctant to buy the theory. Lack of a credible face, an acceptable leader who can identify with the state's issues and the party's weak organisational structure are seen as some of the main reasons for the debacle in the state where party chief Amit Shah is hoping to make big gains.

There is also a sense that the Modi magic which worked during the Lok Sabha polls, helping the party make substantial inroads, seemed to have waned a year later. Political observers though argue that the elements to mobilise voters are different in municipal elections as compared to Lok Sabha polls. BJP, which lacked political presence in the state, had improved its stock only in the name of Modi in the run-up to the parliamentary polls.

Shah's target in the state to end up as an alternative to chief minister Mamata Banerjee following the Saradha scam that hurt the ruling TMC the most, or at least end up as the main opposition party by the time the state goes in for assembly polls in 2016, may look unreal as of Tuesday. Results of three Assembly by-elections in September 2014 had also seen BJP's increasing political might with the party winning only one seat and making its debut in the House from Dakshin Barasat seat. It finished a close second in Kolkata's Chowringhee constituency, losing to TMC.

Party insiders in the state have blamed the present state leadership and lack of any organisational presence in the districts for Tuesday's defeat. The lack of organisational efforts was evident when BJP, which has been looking for new faces, tried to field actor-turned politician Rupa Ganguly for the Kolkata Corporation polls, and even gave her the ticket without checking that her name was not even on the voters' list. She had to be replaced, much to the party's embarrassment.

The factionalism came to the fore during the ticket distribution with some accusing the leadership of preferring new entrants at the cost of committed party hands.

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