Several Bengal BJP leaders were up for a “shock” on Friday afternoon when the party’s Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya reappeared in front of them for the first time after the Assembly polls and conducted a virtual meeting rolling out a set of instructions for them to follow in the coming days.
As Vijayvargiya, who helmed the party’s poll strategy in Bengal, had not been seen in Calcutta since the election results were out on May 2, a significant majority of the state leaders were under the impression that he would be removed for the poor show at the hustings.
“We were awaiting the good news of his removal as the Bengal minder... But he reappeared and even gave us lectures on things to do,” said a state BJP functionary.
“It’s shocking for most of us,” added the source.
Vijayvargiya , one of the four national general secretaries of the party, had became the Bengal minder in July 2015. State leaders think he created the wrong impression that the BJP would bag more than 200 seats in the polls.
Many believe his emphasis on inorganic growth of the BJP in the state was one of the reasons behind the entry of turncoats of all hues in the saffron party over the last couple of years.
The strategy adopted by Vijayvargiya, multiple party sources said, not only pushed the BJP’s oldtimers on the back foot but also created a negative image of the BJP that cost it dear in the recent Assembly polls.
“The fact that everyone, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to home minister Amit Shah, believed that the party was about to get 200plus seats in the Assembly polls was based on his assessment... By making an irrational assessment, he created a bubble that finally burst,” said a BJP’s central leader while adding that he was also expecting Vijayvargiya’s exit.
Since the election results came out on May 2, the factionridden Bengal unit of the BJP was unanimous only on one point as a majority of the state leaders wanted a change in the post of Bengal minder. Posters demanding his removal had appeared in several parts of Calcutta last month.
The state unit’s wish, however, seems to be swatted away one more time as party sources suggested that Vijayvargiya as was likely to continue for the time being.
“The central leaders know that there are reservations about Kailashji and that's why none of the state leaders were told about this meeting before... Everyone was informed that an important meeting with central leaders would be held and so all other programmes were cancelled. When people logged in, they were shocked as Kailashji was the main speaker,” said a state BJP vicepresident.
The fact that the leaders were apprehensive about the reaction from the state leaders became clear as all other participants — except Vijayvargiya himself, his deputy Arvind Menon, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and state unit’s general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty — were kept in mute mode.
A state leader told this correspondent that Vijayvargiya, in his address, didn’t mention the party’s poll debacle, the exit of his closest aide Mukul Roy — former defacto Trinamul number 2 who had joined BJP in 2017 and went back to his old political fold after becoming a BJP MLA — or the general mood of discontent in the party.
“His address was as if nothing had happened and no one liked it,” said a source.
Vijayvargiya, a source said, instructed the leaders to observe Guru Purnima on Saturday besides telling the state leaders to prepare properly so that the four MPs from Bengal, who have been given ministerial berths in the union government, are given a befitting welcome when they return from Delhi.
“We will now have to felicitate these ministers on Kailshiji’s behest…We have also been asked to visit vaccination centres and tell people what a great job the PM is doing by providing free vaccines,” a source present at the meeting said. “
State BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu who was present at the meeting said: “Our national president JP Nadda met all state minders, chiefs and other functionaries on Thursday evening. He had given certain instructions which Kailashji passed onto us on Friday.”
The last time Vijayvargiya appeared in front of the state leaders — though he didn’t speak — was on June 29 when the state unit’s executive committee meeting was held. He was seen sitting beside Nadda at Delhi.
