BJP chief J.P. Nadda likely to visit Bengal

Kolkata, May 26 (IANS) BJP national president J.P. Nadda is expected to visit West Bengal next month to finalise the party's strategy for the upcoming three-tier panchayat polls in the state.

A member of the party's state committee here said that if everything goes as planned, Nadda will be in Bengal along with party's central observers for the state like Amit Malviya, Mangal Pandey and Sunil Bansal in the first half of June.

"As per plan, besides meeting the top state leaders, the central leadership is also expected to make visits to certain districts and meet the respective district leadership there. The focus will be on districts within those Lok Sabha seats where our party candidates were defeated by narrow margins in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," the state committee member of the BJP said.

He also said that although nothing is finalised, the state party leadership will also try to persuade Nadda to address at least one public rally in any district during his visit.

It is learnt that the central leadership of BJP is especially unhappy over the functioning and infighting among the party's leadership in certain districts. "Our national president might also suggest some changes in the district leadership during his visit to West Bengal next month," the state committee member of the party said.

Last time Nadda visited West Bengal was in February and prior to that in January. "However, in both the cases the main purpose of the visit was mass outreach through public rallies. However, the planned visit next month will be different as the focus will be mainly on suggestions and strategies to streamline the organisational structure of the party in the state," the state committee member said.