The Bengal BJP headed by its state president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced its new 35-member state committee, comprising a blend of old-timers and newcomers, ahead of the Assembly election this year.

The state committee was announced before BJP national president J.P. Nadda’s visit to Calcutta on Thursday where he is scheduled to attend a meeting with doctors.

“Since Samik da took charge as the state president, he has called upon members of both the old guard and newcomers to work together. It was expected that the new state committee would be a blend of old and new. This is nothing but a message to work together to oust the Trinamool Congress from power,” a senior state BJP leader said.

In the new committee, fresh faces have been appointed as general secretaries — the most powerful posts. Saumitra Khan, the party’s Bishnupur MP who joined the BJP after quitting Trinamool ahead of the 2021 elections, former Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee and Purulia MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato has been inducted into the post, signalling that the party wants to focus on western and south Bengal districts.

The remaining two general secretary posts went to BJP leaders Bapi Goswami (Jalpaiguri) and Shashi Agnihotri (South 24-Parganas).

Former general secretaries Agnimitra Paul and Jagannath Chattopadhyay have been made party vice-presidents.

Tapas Roy, who joined the BJP from Trinamool last year, has been elevated to vice-president in the new committee.

“If you look at the new committee, you will find that there has been an effort to ensure that no one is hurt or sidelined,” a BJP leader said.

Bhattacharya said that while there were “many capable individuals” who could have been included in the committee, every committee in the BJP was part of a continuing process.

“The party is not dependent on a state president or the committee members. Here we come and work together to ensure Trinamool’s ouster,” said Bhattacharya.

Besides the state committee, the party also announced the names of presidents
of various state morchas, including youth and women’s wings.

Ali Hussain, who was earlier a member of the state committee, has been made the president of the party’s minority morcha. Hussain is the only Muslim face in the state leadership.