On Sunday, the West Bengal BJP moved its 69 MLAs to a luxury hotel in the outskirts of Kolkata in preparation for the presidential elections. According to a senior BJP leader, it indicates the organization needs to make sure all of its MLAs would support the NDA’s nominee before July 18.
KOLKATA: 69 BJP MLAs in all were transported to the facility, which seems to be the first of its type in Bengali politics. According to BJP authorities, the party sought to make sure that Draupadi Murmu would receive the backing of all the 69 Legislators.
The person left out was Pawan Singh, the Bhatpara MLA, and son of the Trinamool Congress’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh. The state BJP command is not staking on Pawan Singh because he has not yet made it clear what his stance is.Â
Meanwhile, the BJP camp also publicly declared that the Legislators would have a training program on Sunday. Training would be provided about how to vote in the Presidential elections before they travel to the Assembly on Monday.Â
Nonetheless, several BJP Party leaders expressed astonishment about the MLAs moving to an exclusive hotel. The MLA hostel may have been made available to the MLAs.
“Casting a vote in presidential elections is indeed not subject to training.”Â
-Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in West BengalÂ
The reaction of the West Bengal BJP Regional Party
The BJP in West Bengal currently has 70 Legislative members. Only 69 MLAs were staying in the New Town hotel as of Sunday midday. Though, officially the state BJP leadership stated that the move to put the party’s lawmakers in a hotel was made so that they could get information about the voting process. But party sources indicated that they did not want to take any chances on the election tomorrow.
Several Trinamool officials have mocked the state BJP’s plan to keep its MLAs at the hotel. Chandrima Bhattacharya, the incumbent finance minister of the State, claims that this is evidence that their opposition party does not trust its own elected officials.Â
BJP had to make arrangements for their sitting MLAs to lodge at a five-star hotel. This serves to remind us of the plot to overthrow the Maharashtra government in a hotel in Assam, she remarked. Â
Today, our MLAs have also arrived in Kolkata, and additionally, we are planning a seminar for the new MLAs too. However we lack the resources necessary to book them any expensive arrangement for their stay, the Trinamool leader added.
Background of the BJP West Bengal UnitÂ
There were 77 BJP lawmakers in all after the 2021 polls. But following that, a number of BJP lawmakers switched over to the Trinamool, bringing the total countdown to 70. The major contention now of state BJP leadership was the absence of certain leaders in the meeting with Draupadi Murmu on July 12.
Earlier, a number of prominent politicians of the party had reached Bengal in preparation for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for 2024. These politicians are Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Panchayat Minister Kapil Moreswar Patil and Smriti Irani.
The saffron party’s top authority is dispatching a number of central ministers to delicate seats in Bengali State. All is in an effort to fortify the structure and raise team morale. The objective is also in order to help the party’s beleaguered organizational network and polling kiosk boosting objective.
A top BJP official speculated the whole development is to make certain that all of its MLAs would vote for the NDA’s nominee, Draupadi Murmu. They claim that all of the MLAs would get a briefing on the presidential election voting procedure on Sunday night. We don’t want any votes to get dismissed, he said.
