Junior ministers to join Bengal BJP’s week-long outreach drive

Kolkata: Four junior Union ministers will participate in the BJP’s week-long public outreach programme under its ‘Paschimbanga Banchao’ campaign to rebuild confidence in the ranks following the party’s setback in the Bengal assembly polls.
“We will host programmes from August 9 to 16 to reach out to poll violence victims and people in general. Our district units have planned several programmes, beginning with the one in East Midnapore.The BJP Mahila Morcha will take part in an agitation programme,” state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said.
Bengal BJP’s Paschimbanga Banchao campaign matches the spirit of BJP national president J P Nadda’s clarion call to all junior ministers to build rapport with the masses during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra in poll-bound states like UP in the coming week. Nadda had also met party MPs from Bengal on Tuesday.
The BJP brass wants junior ministers Nisith Pramanik, Subhas Sarkar, John Barla and Shantanu Thakur to work hand in hand with party veterans in the state and connect with the people. Other BJP MPs in Bengal have been asked to nurse three to four Lok Sabha constituencies in the run-up to the civic elections and assembly bypolls.
The key objective is to highlight how the ruling Trinamool Congress has “throttled democracy” in Bengal and is “trying to silence the opposition by serial killing of BJP workers”. BJP leaders have been asked to reach out to blocks, armed with the NHRC report on post-poll violence. They must also keep tabs on the distribution of free ration under a scheme that the PM will launch on Thursday.