ED, CBI actions won’t help BJP win elections: Sukanta
Times of India | 16 July 2024
Kolkata: Bengal BJP president and junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar told party workers that relying on CBI and ED actions wouldn’t help win elections. He urged the workers to focus on strengthening the organisation instead of depending on the arrests made by central investigating agencies.
Majumdar, speaking at a ‘karyakarta sammelan’ (workers’ meet) in Midnapore on Saturday and again in Hooghly on Sunday, did not mention state leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
However, senior party members believe he was referring to Adhikari, who has previously threatened Trinamool with central agency action both inside and outside the assembly.
BJP lost the Midnapore Lok Sabha seat — which it had won by 89,000 votes in 2019 — by 27,000 votes this year. Criticising the organisational weakness in the district, Majumdar said, “If a worker thinks that a CBI or ED action can help us to win an election, that is absolutely wrong.”
Majumdar reiterated this point on Sunday in Hooghly, saying, “At times, workers would ask for CBI action to arrest someone. They think that will ensure a win in the constituency. It will not happen. Workers may think that arresting a leader will ensure a win from the constituency. That is not possible.”
Bengal BJP’s poll preparedness has come under scrutiny after the party bagged only 12 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. BJP had previously secured a lead in 126 assembly segments during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which decreased to 90 in 2024.
“(Trinamool district president) Anubrata Mondal was arrested. He is still in custody. Did we win the Birbhum seat? If we can work hard to strengthen the organisation, we can win an election. Otherwise, only arrests (by central agencies) will not help you win any election,” the Bengal BJP president said.
Trinamool has consistently criticised the “agenda-driven action” of central agencies. CM Mamata Banerjee has said during her campaigns that ED and CBI actions cannot secure votes for BJP. Trinamool’s former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh on Monday termed Majumdar’s statement as a late realisation. “The state BJP unit has become a jamboree of leaders. Their netas have been threatening us with the central agency’s investigations. Voters in Bengal have turned down the current BJP brass. Even party veterans have refused to accept them. They should introspect now,” Ghosh said.