Rathore lead 51-strong Rajasthan BJP team that helped party sweep Bengal
Former LoP Rajendra Rathore deployed 863 panna pramukhs in Bhavanipur; CM Bhajanlal addressed Marwaris in six seats.
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Bhajanlal Sharma government.
Jaipur: Rajasthan’s BJP unit emerged as one of the central architects of the party’s West Bengal Assembly election campaign, with 51 senior state leaders and around 100 party workers travelling to Bengal to handle rallies, road shows and booth-level management, according to a state party account of the campaign.
The central leadership had assigned the Rajasthan unit a frontline role on account of the large population of expatriate Rajasthanis in Bengal, the state party said. Most of the constituencies in which Rajasthani leaders were given charge of campaign management were won by the BJP.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma personally engaged Marwari community groups and social organisations across six assembly constituencies, including Siliguri, Howrah North and Barrackpore, holding direct meetings with expatriate Rajasthani voters during the campaign.
Former Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore was given charge of campaign management in Bhavanipur, the seat of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Rathore deployed 863 panna pramukhs, 56 shakti kendras and 267 booth in-charges across the constituency, with state leaders Ravi Nayyar and Somkant Sharma also working on the ground. The state unit said his strategy was significant in the BJP’s effort to defeat Banerjee in the seat.
Other senior assignments included Finance Commission chairman Arun Chaturvedi and former state BJP president Ashok Parnami managing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies and road shows. Chief spokesperson Ramlal Sharma was tasked with handling Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s events, while former state president C P Joshi oversaw meetings of central leaders. Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Kailash Choudhary were assigned Siliguri, and MLA Jitendra Gothwal handled Asansol.
Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, the BJP’s Bengal election in-charge, and organisation in-charge Sunil Bansal have seen their stature within the party grow following the verdict, the state unit said. Both leaders had earlier handled key responsibilities in the Bihar, Maharashtra and Haryana elections.
