BJP to go alone in Bengal civic polls, no alliance with NCPI, says Samik Bhattacharya
Senior BJP leaders from West Bengal, including Samik Bhattacharya, are opposed to taking NCPI on board for the Kolkata or Howrah municipal corporation elections, as it could create fresh confusion among grassroots-level workers
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has announced that the party will contest the upcoming civic polls in Kolkata and Howrah without any alliance, dismissing the possibility of a partnership with the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI). NCPI is a regional party that has absorbed 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs. Bhattacharya told media that the BJP will secure a two-thirds majority in Howrah and Kolkata civic bodies on its own strength.
NCPI MPs, including Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, had earlier suggested that their party would contest the KMC elections as part of the NDA, but Bhattacharya seems to reject this proposal. After the Trinamool Congress' defeat in the assembly elections, the party's 20 MPs joined NCPI. The number of wards in Kolkata and Howrah Municipal Corporations will increase from 144 and 50 to 209 and 68 respectively, with elections likely to be held after Durga Puja holidays.
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