Amid speculations on the BJP's Chief Ministerial face in the West Bengal Assembly polls, State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said the party had not taken any decision on the matter and would instead seek votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his "development agenda".
Mr. Bhattacharya said the BJP did not distinguish between "organic" and "inorganic" leaders, and that "whoever the people identify as fighters against the TMC's misrule can be the party's face after it wins the polls".
Pitching the Assembly polls as the BJP's direct battle against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the TMC's "appeasement politics", Mr. Bhattacharya asserted that the party would not project any CM face, and would instead seek votes in the name of Modi and his "development agenda", and also pursue a policy of "detect, detain and deport" against infiltrators if voted to power.
In an interview with PTI, Bhattacharya declined to give a direct reply on whether the BJP's decision to field Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur amounted to projecting him as the party's chief ministerial candidate.
"The BJP does not project anyone as the chief ministerial candidate. In Delhi and Haryana, who did the BJP project as the face? We did not. Yet we won. The same happened in Odisha. Whom did we project as the face? We did not fight those elections with any one face," he said.
Pressed on whether Mr. Adhikari's candidature from Mamata Banerjee's pocket borough Bhabanipur made him, in effect, the BJP's face in the election, Mr. Bhattacharya said the leadership decision would rest entirely with the party's parliamentary board and central leadership.
"If, in the next few days, they decide to select someone and fight under that person, then that will be their decision. But at this moment, there is no such decision and I do not think there will be," he said.
The BJP, he said, would instead seek votes in the name of Modi.
"We contest elections by putting forward 'vikas purush' Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- the man of development -- whom people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari trust, and by seeking votes on the basis of faith in his vision," Mr. Bhattacharya said.
He, however, left a small window open, saying the top leadership remained free to take a different call later.
The BJP leader said his party would secure a "comfortable majority" in the election but refused to specify numbers or say whether it would cross the two-thirds mark.
Mr. Bhattacharya made it clear that the decision to field Mr. Adhikari in Bhabanipur was intended to throw a direct challenge at Ms. Banerjee on her home turf.
"Anyone can understand that. It is a direct challenge," he said.
Recalling the fierce political battle between Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Adhikari in Nandigram in 2021, Mr. Bhattacharya said the BJP wanted to test the TMC's claim that Banerjee lost there only because of "load-shedding".
"The leader of the opposition was suspended from the assembly for a total of 11 months in the last five years. His family was attacked. His victory was called a 'load-shedding victory'. Even then we said: if you think we won in Nandigram because of load-shedding, then show your strength by taking a lead in that segment in the Lok Sabha elections. They could not take the lead there," he said.
Setting out the BJP's priorities if it came to power, Mr. Bhattacharya said the first task would be to establish the rule of law.
"First, establish the rule of law in the state. Second, ensure that there is no post-poll violence, because we believe that after the TMC loses power, its workers will start killing each other. We do not want that. Third, create an atmosphere suitable for investment," he said.
On infiltration, which he described as the BJP's "core issue", Mr. Bhattacharya said the party's policy would be simple: "Detect, detain, deport infiltrators from West Bengal".
He repeatedly cast this month's election not merely as a contest between the BJP and the ruling TMC, but as a decisive civilisation battle not only for the "existence of Bengali Hindus but also for nationalist, rational Muslims".
Mr. Bhattacharya also sought to rebut allegations that the BJP was trying to impose a 'Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan' and vegetarian culture on West Bengal.
"Bengalis cannot live without fish. The party of Syama Prasad Mookerjee don't need to prove whether we are Bengalis or not," he said.
Striking a combative note over the alleged assault on judicial officers engaged in SIR in Malda, Mr. Bhattacharya said he still had faith in the ECI to ensure free and fair polls in the State.
"It is a commitment from them (EC) that they are going to hold a free and fair, and bloodless election. Right now, a constitutional authority is being challenged in West Bengal. I think the custodians of the Constitution should intervene immediately," he said.
Rejecting Ms. Banerjee's allegation that the BJP wanted to impose President's Rule in the State, Bhattacharya said the party could have done so years ago had it wished so.
"Had the BJP wanted to impose President's Rule, this government could have been removed seven years earlier itself. But we do not support that in principle. Mamata Banerjee will be defeated by the people's vote," he said.
To Muslims, who comprise nearly 30% of the electorate and had hardly voted for the saffron camp in the last few polls, Bhattacharya said, the BJP's message was to "come into the mainstream of national life", educate children and reject appeasement politics.
