Meet The Six Veterans BJP Has Deployed to Bengal To End Local Infighting

By Oneindia Desk

Updated: Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 10:38 [IST]

In order to end the TMC's rule in West Bengal, the BJP, which has taken over the primary opposition's role with the decline of the Left parties, has transformed its West Bengal operations into a pan-Indian military-style command center.

As Bengal prepares for the assembly, the saffron party has moved beyond local campaigning by importing a "special forces" unit of six veteran leaders from across the country to suppress internal rebellion and engineer a 5% vote swing that could decide the fate of the state.

AI Summary

AI-generated summary, reviewed by editors

BJP has deployed six veteran leaders from across India to transform its West Bengal operations into a military-style command center for the upcoming assembly elections, aiming for a 5% vote swing. These leaders, including J.P.S. Rathore, Suresh Rana, and C.T. Ravi, are tasked with various responsibilities such as organizational management and voter outreach, reporting directly to BJP National General Secretary Sunil Bansal, under the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Meet The Six Veterans BJP Has Deployed to Bengal To End Local Infighting

The Strategy: Outsourcing Discipline

The BJP's Bengal unit has long been plagued by factionalism-a mix of "old-guard" loyalists and newer defectors who often clash over ticket distribution and local influence. To fix this, the party has deployed seasoned outsiders who carry no local baggage. These leaders are performing organizational surgery, meeting with booth-level workers and district heads to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction, according to a report in The Indian Express.

Since these heavyweights are largely from the Hindi heartland, the party has innovated a "Shadow Translator" system. Every senior leader is paired with a local Bengali bilingual aide, ensuring that the central leadership's "tough love" isn't lost in translation during grassroots huddles.

The Big Six: Profiles of the Enforcers

The "twist" in this deployment lies in the specific profiles of the men chosen. They aren't just politicians; they are specialists in "hostile territory" management.

Leader	Home State	Profile & Specialized Skillset
J.P.S. Rathore	Uttar Pradesh	An IIT-BHU alumnus and current UP Minister. He is a data-driven strategist who masterminded the BJP's organizational machinery during the 2017 and 2022 UP sweeps. He has been handed 35 seats, focusing on clinical, booth-level management.
Suresh Rana	Uttar Pradesh	A firebrand leader from Western UP, Rana is known for his aggressive Hindutva stance and experience in communal flashpoints. He has been assigned North 24 Parganas, a district with complex demographics, including the volatile Sandeshkhali region.
C.T. Ravi	Karnataka	A four-time MLA and former National General Secretary. Ravi is the "ideological anchor" of the group. Coming from the South, he understands how to navigate states where the BJP is not the "natural" incumbent, bringing a relentless focus on core Hindu consolidation.
Kailash Choudhary	Rajasthan	A former Union Minister and veteran of the BJP's farmers' wing (Kisan Morcha). His role is to penetrate the North Bengal agrarian belt (Cooch Behar), appealing to the rural vote that has traditionally oscillated between the Left and the TMC.
Dhan Singh Rawat	Uttarakhand	A cabinet minister with a PhD in History, Rawat represents the "scholarly organizer." He is known for his discipline and deep ties to the RSS, tasked with ensuring that the party's ideological purity remains intact during the expansion phase.
Sanjay Bhatia	Haryana	The General Secretary of the Haryana unit, Bhatia is a "connectivity specialist." Having won his 2019 Lok Sabha seat by one of the highest margins in India, he is tasked with replicating that "victory-at-scale" mindset in the Hooghly district.

The Reporting Line: The Bansal-Shah Axis

This entire task force reports directly to Sunil Bansal, the BJP National General Secretary. Bansal is widely credited as the architect of the BJP's 2014 and 2017 successes in Uttar Pradesh. By placing the "UP model" architects in Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has sent a clear signal: the 2021 defeat was a lesson, but 2026 is intended to be a conquest.

The Math of 5%

The logic is ruthless. In 2021, the TMC secured 48.02% of the vote to the BJP's 37.97%. The BJP's internal analytics suggest that they don't need a landslide; they need a surgical 5% shift. By targeting "low-margin" seats-like Dinhata, where the 2021 margin was a microscopic 57 votes-the BJP hopes to flip the script one constituency at a time.