New Delhi/Kolkata: Buoyed by its vote swell in West Bengal in Lok Sabha polls, BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday embarked on a two-day visit to the state in his bid to strengthen the party base and consolidate the gains to project it as an alternative to Left and Trinamool Congress there. Shah, who is visiting the state for the first time after taking charge as BJP chief, would be meeting the office-bearers of the state to discuss the present situation in the wake of alleged repeated attacks on BJP workers.
He will also address the West Bengal BJP unit meet which started its two-day brain storming session on Saturday to chalk out strategy to counter the ruling Trinamool. The new BJP President will start his day on Sunday in the West Bengal capital by seeking the blessings of Goddess Kali and then hold a meeting of the state executive.
He is expected to discuss strategy to help BJP expand its support base and make electoral gains in the state with special emphasis on the need for strengthening the party at the village level, sources said. Shah will also address a public rally in the famous Bow Bazaar area. Though it won only two Lok seats in West Bengal, the BJP's vote share swelled to 16.8 per cent in the state in the last Parliamentary elections and the new BJP chief has embarked on this ambitious plan of consolidating on the gains.
During his recent visit to Kerala, Shah had made clear that West Bengal was on his radar where he hopes BJP will emerge as viable option for voters in the state polity. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been targeting BJP post Lok Sabha elections with Chief Minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee leading the charge.
BJP has alleged that its workers at the grassroots level face repeated attacks at the the behest of the TMC. Its workers were also killed in Birbhum district and in Sandeshkali area in the state after which the party top brass had sent two fact-finding teams to assess the ground situation and the reasons behind the attacks.
A delegation of BJP leaders which had visited the state in June had termed the law and order in Bengal as "precarious" and asked Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take urgent measures to rectify it. Targeting the Banerjee government, the five-member team of BJP leaders had alleged that the violence could be "state-sponsored" and that the border area with Bangladesh is the "new home for Islamic fundamentalist groups which being patronised" by TMC government for votebank politics.
TMC, however, refuted these charges and accused BJP of fomenting communal discontent. West Bengal has been ruled for almost three decades by the Left, which was dethroned by Banerjee-led TMC in 2011.
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