BJP Woos Loyalists Over Turncoats

No more defectors in Bengal—at least that seems to be the message as Sunil Bansal ushers in a strategic shift for saffron

- By Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

APECULIAR GAP BETWEEN ability and ambition has hobbled the West Bengal BJP for long. And that's after amassing acres of political space over the years.

Its problem: the organisation that tends to this turf is wobbly on the inside. That's what Sunil Bansal, the party's minder for Bengal since mid-2022, aims to change ahead of the 2026 assembly election.

His ingredients-ideological commitment, grassroots connect, loyalty and systematic planning-may seem par for the course for any Sangh Parivar operation. But to see how it marks a strategic departure, simply contrast it to the chaotic legacy of Bansal's predecessor, Kailash Vijayvargiya: a controversial phase defined largely by the wholesale import of defectors. A spot of inorganic growth was a necessity when starting from zilch, but it soon created a situation where instability was a structural feature, not a bug.