After defeat in Bengal Assembly polls, BJP having second thoughts on turncoats

The BJP’s tactics of engineering defection in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other parties and fielding the turncoats in the Assembly elections have backfired. State BJP sources said that out of the 107 turncoats fielded by the saffron party, 76 have lost in the elections. This means that 71 per cent of the turncoats, most of them from the TMC, have lost, leaving the saffron party red-faced.

They further revealed that there was already considerable discontent among the old guard of BJP over fielding the TMC turncoats and it will likely increase further after their defeat in the Assembly elections.

“The way our Central leadership took all key decisions regarding the Assembly elections without having faith in the state leaders has added to the discontent,” said a senior state BJP leader.

He also said that the way turncoat candidates “were imposed” by BJP cadres not only demoralised them, but also adversely affected the acceptability of party candidates to the cadres.

Another issue plaguing the state unit of the BJP is the Central leadership’s decision of removing General Secretary (organization) Subrata Chattopadyay ahead of the Assembly elections. The removal of Chattopadhyay who along with state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, played a key role in the party’s success in Bengal in the last Lok Sabha elections, is also being rued by the state unit.

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“What can be the logic behind breaking such a winning combination? Now the results say everything,” the state BJP leader said.

Admitting that their performance in the Assembly elections was not at par with their expectations, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said that "they contested the Assembly elections with the aim of coming to power in Bengal but fell short of it. We will play the role of a responsible Opposition party.”

BJP insiders said that a section of state leaders are of the opinion that “some compromise” was made in terms of candidate selection with RSS ideology which adversely affected the party’s performance.

They further revealed that the party’s central leadership is also having second thoughts about turncoats. Party sources said that those joining the BJP from other parties will first have to perform as common workers.

The state BJP chief said that “like thousands of BJP workers, those joining from other parties will also have to perform as workers. It will be analyzed whether they were accepted by the people.”