Bhattacharya’s name was finalised after he along with other BJP leaders met their national president JP Nadda at his residence in New Delhi
Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya files his nomination for the post of BJP's West Bengal president in the presence of MoS and the state's outgoing BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, LoP in the state Assembly and party leader Suvendu Adhikari and others. (@BJP4Bengal via PTI Photo)
Kolkata: With an eye on the next year's Assembly Election in West Bengal, BJP is set to appoint its Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya, known to be a sober, rationalistic orator and media-friendly with Bengali Bhodrolok image, as the next state party president after his uncontested win in an organisational poll on Wednesday.
This is the third time in a row the state's main opposition party is going to be headed by an RSS brain after outgoing unit chief and union minister Sukanta Majumdar and former Midnapore MP Dilip Ghosh.
According to sources, Mr Bhattacharya’s name was finalised after he along with other BJP leaders met their national president JP Nadda at his residence in New Delhi on July 30 to brief him about their recent participation in the Centre's diplomatic outreach campaign on Operation Sindoor.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, appointed as the party's polling officer for Bengal unit chief's election, was also present there, sources said. On Tuesday, BJP issued a notification for its Bengal unit president’s poll.
On Wednesday, Mr Bhattacharya, following central leadership’s instructions, filed his nomination for the post in presence of Mr Majumdar and leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari. Interestingly, no other nomination was filed, leading to Mr Bhattacharya’s uncontested win.
He however said, “The president is not relevant here. It's all about a team game. Our aim is Chhabbishe Nirbachon Trinamuler Bisorjon. (‘26 Election means Trinamul’s Immersion.)” The 61-year-old bachelor joined RSS at the age of eight in 1971. He later became an active functionary of the outfit in Howrah but maintained a low profile before his entry to BJP.
In 2014, Mr Bhattacharya became an MLA from Basirhat South in North 24 Parganas in a bypoll but lost the seat in the Assembly Election two years later. Since then, he has been continuing as the main BJP spokesperson in the state which earned him a berth in Rajya Sabha last year.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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