Calcutta, May 11: The state leaders of the BJP are in a fix on how to up the ante against the state government as Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly spoke of co-operation with Mamata Banerjee during his visit to the state and invited her to be part of his 'Team India'.
Although those at the helm in the party stressed that the Prime Minister conducted himself keeping in mind the federal structure of the country, party insiders admitted the apparent signs of bonhomie between him and Mamata could send confusing signals to the ranks.
'There is no denying that some confusion has been created among our ground-level leaders and workers on whether our anti-Trinamul movement would suffer,' Dilip Ghosh, a state BJP general secretary, said this afternoon.
After the BJP's lacklustre show in the recent civic polls, the state leaders had announced that they would hold a series of anti-government programmes across the state as part of their mission to strengthen the organisational network.
During the planning of such movements, the leaders had unanimously agreed that the strategy should be to attack Mamata and the failure of her government to bring about a change in the lives of people.
But after yesterday's programme in Asansol, the leaders are confused about whether the 'attack-Mamata' strategy will work.
Not only did Modi praise Mamata for her role in supporting the constitutional amendment to exchange enclaves between India and Bangladesh, he also promised help for the development of Bengal.
Gopal Sarkar, the BJP's president of the north suburban district that comprises Dum Dum, Salt Lake and its neighbourhood, said at least 50 party workers had called him over phone since this morning and some of them met him to enquire whether they could undertake any anti-Trinamul movement at this juncture.
'I had to explain to them that there would be no let-up in our anti-Trinamul agitation, which would get more sharpened in the coming days,' Sarkar said.
Although the leaders said that nothing had changed, some BJP insiders pointed out that the Prime Minister did not mention the Saradha controversy, while talking about the scams yesterday at Burnpur.
Modi also dropped hints that the attack he had launched before the Lok Sabha polls was part of the pre-election mood.
'Modiji had built the base of the attack on the chief minister on the Saradha issue.... Now, he is giving her certificates. Can we again go after her?' asked a young BJP leader.
In an apparent move to clear the air, the leadership, according to BJP sources, today sent out a directive to the district presidents across the state to carry on with their anti-Mamata movements, highlighting alleged Trinamul-sponsored terror.
'We have told the district units to stick to their anti-Trinamul movements and to send out a message that we shall fight the ruling party tooth and nail against its terror politics,' state BJP president Rahul Sinha said this afternoon.
Amid this confusion, Sinha seems to be on a firm wicket for the time being though there was a buzz that he might be replaced because of the poor show of the BJP in the civic polls. 'Modiji gave due importance to him by taking him along everywhere from Nazrul Manch to Dakshineswar to Belur Math and finally to Burnpur during his stay in the last two days,' a state BJP vice-president said tonight. According to him, this would send out a message to Rahulda's detractors, who have been crying hoarse over his replacement.
