Congress sounds WB poll bugle, reveals 'Rahul & Priyanka Gandhi to regularly campaign'

Alleging that BJP and TMC had both failed, the Congress party on Thursday asserted that it will emerge as the "alternative" in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls. In the 2016 election, Congress won 44 seats and managed to bag the Leader of Opposition post in the Legislative Assembly. Addressing a press conference, Congress' state in-charge Jitin Prasada contended that his party would do much better to improve the law and order situation.

Downplaying BJP's foray into West Bengal, he claimed that the former had no grassroots leader in the state. Alleging that the activities of the BJP's WB unit are being run from Delhi, he highlighted that Congress had strong local leaders playing a role in both the Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha. Moreover, Prasada revealed that Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will regularly campaign in the state. 

Read: My Biggest Task Is To Ensure Free And Fair Assembly Polls :WB Governor Dhankhar

Congress leader Jitin Prasada remarked, "There is a difference between the two parties. As far as the BJP goes, they don’t have any leader in West Bengal so to say. They have MPs but I won’t call them their leaders. They are being run by remote control from Delhi whereas the Congress party has a long history with Bengal. It has stalwarts and great leaders as far as people in the Lok Sabha are concerned or in the Vidhan Sabha."

"You will see that the necessary help of the All India Congress Committee will be given. Full thrust and focus will be on the Bengal election from strategy to manpower to leaders to our Chief Ministers to our top leadership- Rahul Gandhi and Priyankaji making a regular foray into Bengal to reach out to the people. There is no scope for laxity on part of the Congress party," he added. 

Read: 'Attack On Federal Structure', Says WB Minister On MHA's 2nd Letter On Central Deputation

Read: Ex-TMC MLA Suvendu Adhikari Accuses WB Govt Of Police Repression, Seeks Guv's Intervention

BJP's WB campaign 

BJP is looking to make major inroads in the WB Assembly election due in April-May 2021 buoyed by its win in 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2019 General Election. As per the recent reshuffle, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya is BJP's in-charge of the state while IT cell head Amit Malviya and Arvind Menon have been appointed as co-in-charge. Additionally, the BJP top brass has put Sunil Deodhar, Vinod Tawde, Dushyant Gautam, Harish Dwivedi and Vinod Sonkar in-charge of the North Bengal, Rarh Banga (south-western districts), Nabadwip, Midnapore and Kolkata organizational zones. Both Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have predicted that BJP will win more than 200 seats in the 294-member WB Assembly. 

Read: CRPF Writes To WB Police Ahead Of Shah's Visit; Highlights Lapses During Attack On Nadda