BJP Deploys Jumbo Team from Uttar Pradesh to Power Bengal Poll Push

Kolkata: Riding high on its emphatic victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its focus on West Bengal, treating the upcoming Assembly polls as a high-stakes political contest. Determined to expand its footprint in the state, the party has deployed a large team of ministers, seasoned organisers and election strategists from Uttar Pradesh to bolster its campaign machinery across Bengal.

As part of a carefully crafted electoral strategy, the BJP has divided West Bengal into six operational zones to ensure focused supervision and micro-level planning. Three of these zones have been entrusted to senior leaders with strong organisational credentials — Uttar Pradesh Minister of State JPS Rathore, former cabinet minister Suresh Rana, and Uttarakhand Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat. Each of them is being supported by general secretaries from their respective state party units to ensure coordination and effective implementation on the ground.

The scale of the BJP’s deployment underlines the importance it attaches to the Bengal elections, which party leaders see as a prestige battle with national implications. Of the state’s 244 Assembly constituencies, as many as 47 seats have been placed under the direct responsibility of leaders from Uttar Pradesh. Senior BJP functionaries say the move reflects confidence in the organisational strength and electoral experience of UP leaders, many of whom have managed complex campaigns in politically competitive environments.

JPS Rathore, who served for a long period as BJP’s state general secretary in Uttar Pradesh, was sent to Bengal as early as October. Known for his grassroots-level organisational skills, Rathore has been tasked with overseeing the Kolkata South zone. He has earlier played an active role in Assembly election campaigns in Bengal and is expected to bring sharper booth-level management and voter outreach strategies to the region.

Former Sugarcane Development Minister and current BJP State Vice President Suresh Rana has been given charge of the Kolkata North zone. Rana has previously handled sensitive and strategically important seats during the Haryana Assembly elections, and the party hopes his experience will help consolidate BJP’s urban support base in north Kolkata.

In addition to zone-level responsibilities, leaders from Uttar Pradesh have also been entrusted with key district-level assignments. Five of West Bengal’s 44 districts are now under the charge of UP-based leaders. These include Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’, Ministers of State Dinesh Khatik and Sanjay Gangwar, former MP Ajay Mishra Teni, and MP Subrat Pathak.

Subrat Pathak has been given charge of Hooghly district, a challenging region for the BJP where the party currently does not have a single MLA across its seven Assembly constituencies, despite having won the Lok Sabha seat there in 2019. The party sees Hooghly as a key battleground where organisational rebuilding is crucial.

Several Assembly constituencies have also been assigned individual in-charges from Uttar Pradesh. Former minister Swati Singh has been made responsible for the Behala seat in Kolkata South, Upendra Tiwari for the Sankrail seat in Howrah Town, and Anand Shukla for the Habra seat. Meanwhile, MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj from the Meerut-Ghaziabad region is campaigning in the Jagatdal constituency of Barrackpore district, while Kanpur-based MLC Arun Pathak has been stationed in Naihati.

Apart from these senior leaders, a large number of organisational office-bearers from district, regional and state levels have also been deputed to Bengal. The BJP believes this extensive deployment will strengthen its grassroots presence, sharpen campaign coordination, and position the party for a stronger electoral performance in West Bengal.

Team Maverick.