By Saibal Gupta

Kolkata, Jul 19 (IANS): In an effort to cope up with the present problem in the party and reach out to the people, the West Bengal unit of the BJP has formulated several strategies. The state BJP leadership has not only formulated a plan to increase their inter-personal connection with the people but also have formulated a design to handle the disgruntled leaders.

In the likes of 'Didi Ke Bolo' (Tell it to elder sister) articulated by TMC's election strategist during the assembly election campaign, the state BJP has decided to launch 'Bidhayok ke Bolo' (speak to your MLA) to reach out to the people. The scheme is the brainchild of Amit Malviya, the national-in-charge of the party's IT cell as well as the central observer for West Bengal.

Confirming this development, a senior BJP legislator said that all 75 MLAs have been asked to start separate WhatsApp groups. "The voters of the respective constituencies can directly register their grievances with their MLAs. Every MLA has been directed to attend to the complaints and initiatives in finding solutions within 48 hours from the receipt of the complaints," he said.

"We admitted that the TMC's Didike Bolo (Speak to the elder sister) reaped electoral benefits for the party in the recently concluded Assembly elections. Now, we want our elected MLAs to concentrate on intense public relations exercises in their respective constituencies. So, we have decided to start the bidhayokke bolo (speak to your MLA) programme," another senior BJP leader said.

So far as the disgruntled BJP leaders - mainly those who have migrated from TMC- are concerned, the saffron brigade has decided to apply the stick and the carrot method. "There are two kinds of leaders. One is those who have openly expressed their displeasure and publicly disturbed the image of the party and there are some who are not happy with the activities of the party but preferred to keep quiet and discuss it with the party leadership. The party will treat these two categories separately," a senior party member said.

In simple words, for leaders with rebellious attitudes like Soumitra Khan, Rajib Bandopadhyay and Sabyasachi Dutta, the approach of the BJP;s state leadership will be "bitter". On the other hand, for leaders like Rathin Chakraborty and Baishali Dalmia, the approach will be "sweet".

On one hand the state party president is ensuring that no big roles are given to the turncoats at the moment and on the other, the Leader of Opposition is reaching out to those other turncoats who have openly not voiced their displeasure over the running of affairs in the saffron brigade. The outreach is to make sure there is no further bleeding.

When the party is ensuring that the rebellious attitude of leaders like Soumitra Khan, Rajib Bandopadhyay and Sabyasachi Dutta does not percolate to other turncoats, Adhikari is holding meetings with leaders like Dalmia and Chakraborty, since they never raised their voices publicly.

"There are many leaders who have come from different parties. They have separate organisational set-up and they are not accustomed to the BJP style of functioning. We need to give them more time so that they can understand the party's ideology and culture but at the same time we will have to ensure that they don't taint the image of the party. We are going through a reformation and we hope to overcome these problems soon," a senior party leader said.