'BJP to act as Arjuna in coming elections in Bengal'

An upbeat BJP in West Bengal is drawing its inspiration from the epic Mahabharata with its state president Dilip Ghosh saying the party would now play the role of great warrior Arjuna to win most of the seats in the state.

The party, Ghosh said, has accorded top priority to the 2019 general elections and the assembly polls in West Bengal and with a winning spirit akin to Arjuna, it has set a target of winning 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state before emerging victorious in the 2021 assembly elections.

The party has accorded top priority to the two polls, he said on the concluding day of the party's two-day state executive meeting.

All organisational bodies of the state unit of the BJP have been asked to complete their assigned works before Durga Puja, he said.

"So far our role was like Sanjay (narrator of the action of the Kurukshetra battle) in the Mahabharata and now our role will be that of Arjuna (seen as the greatest warrior among the Pandavas).

"We have set our target of winning 25 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in 2019 and the state assembly election in 2021 and we must achieve it," Ghosh said.

The BJP has already emerged as the main opposition in West Bengal ahead of the Leftists and the Congress, he said.

"The 2019 Lok Sabha election is very importa2021 nt in West Bengal and preparation for this at various levels have been appreciated at the party's recent national executive meet," Ghosh said.

He said BJP would focus on the violence during the May panchayat poll in the state during its campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The West Bengal BJP will take out a Rath Yatra after Durga Puja and other festivals to gear up for the general election.

"The chariots would be named after saints and will tour all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state. They would showcase the success stories of the Narendra Modi government," he said.

"The month-long Rath Yatra would be a major campaign from December 2018 to January 2019 to mould the people's opinion in favour of the BJP and the Modi government," Ghosh said.

The BJP state executive meeting discussed strategies to fight political opponents in the coming Lok Sabha election, assessed the party's organisational strength at different levels starting from the grassroots and ways to strengthen it, party sources said.