Kolkata, Feb 17 (PTI) Ahead of high-stakes West Bengal Assembly election, the BJP on Tuesday inducted several prominent faces, including a former NSG commando, a retired CRPF officer and the daughter of a former Left Front minister, in a move seen as part of its wider pre-poll consolidation drive.
The joining programme, held at the party’s state headquarters in Kolkata, was attended by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and other senior leaders.
Among those who joined were former NSG commandor Dipanjan Chakraborty, retired CRPF DSP Biplab Biswas, and Kasturi Goswami, daughter of late former RSP leader and minister Kshiti Goswami. Party leaders described the induction as an attempt to broaden the BJP’s social and political footprint ahead of the polls.
Chakraborty is a popular face in Bengali media channels speaking on various aspects of national security.
Kasturi Goswami’s entry drew particular political attention, given her family’s long association with Left politics.
Her sister, Basundhara Goswami, had earlier joined the Trinamool Congress and currently serves as a councillor in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, a contrast that has sparked discussion in political circles about shifting loyalties within Bengal’s older ideological families.
The latest induction comes as the BJP intensifies preparations for the Assembly election, hoping to regain momentum after falling short in 2021 despite emerging as the principal opposition.
In that election, the TMC won 213 seats while the BJP secured 77, marking a dramatic rise for the saffron party but not enough to dislodge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
With 294 seats at stake, both parties have begun aggressive organisational activity, with the BJP attempting to project a broader coalition of security veterans, former bureaucrats and defectors from rival political camps.
The TMC, however, has often dismissed such events as electoral optics, arguing that individual joinings rarely alter ground-level equations in a state where welfare politics and local networks remain decisive.
As the countdown to the polls begin, political observers expect further high-profile inductions across camps.
The West Bengal BJP leadership believes that such moves, combined with larger mobilisation programmes planned in the coming weeks, could help sustain a narrative of momentum against the ruling party. PTI PNT MNB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.