Asserting that the door is now shut for several sitting TMC MPs and MLAs who are "keen to join the BJP" after its victory in Bengal, state party president Samik Bhattacharya said.

In an interview with PTI, Bhattacharya said after securing a decisive mandate on its own, the party was under no compulsion to induct leaders from rival camps, and rejected any distinction between a "good TMC" and a "bad TMC".

He asserted that the party had learnt from its experience of large-scale defections ahead of the 2021 assembly polls and would keep those lessons in mind in future.

At the same time, signalling what he described as a changed political reality in Bengal, Bhattacharya said Muslims should recognise that governments could be formed without depending on minority votes, arguing that the BJP's two-thirds majority had altered the state's electoral arithmetic.

Without naming any leader or disclosing any number, Bhattacharya said, "Several TMC MPs and MLAs are willing to join us, but I don't want to comment on figures." He insisted that the BJP had little need for political imports. "Right now, the door is closed. We don't need any TMC leader to win elections anymore. We have won on our own," the state BJP chief said.

Asked whether the party's position could change in the future, Bhattacharya struck a guarded note.

"In politics, two plus two is not always four; we won’t open our door for any tainted leader…this decision would be a collective decision and not of an individual," he said.

Even if the party eventually considers fresh entrants, those tainted by allegations of corruption, involvement in recruitment scams or links with the TMC's alleged syndicate network would not be welcome, he asserted.

Seeking to clarify his stand on the TMC rank and file, Bhattacharya categorically rejected suggestions that he had ever classified sections of the ruling party as either a "good TMC" or a "bad TMC".

"I have never said there is a good TMC or a bad TMC. TMC and corruption have become synonymous," he said.

He, however, maintained that a section of TMC supporters and workers had remained untouched by corruption and had backed the BJP in the election.

"There are people who were part of the TMC but stayed outside that corrupt ecosystem. Many of them voted for us," he said.

Bhattacharya said any future decision on whether such individuals could formally join the BJP would be taken collectively by the party and not by any individual leader.

Recalling the BJP's experience ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, he said the party had learnt from the consequences of inducting large numbers of leaders from the TMC.

"We had shown excessive interest in TMC leaders in 2021, and that proved to be our undoing. We have learnt from that mistake... and we will keep that in mind for the future," he said.

Bhattacharya said Muslims should shed their "minority mindset" and see themselves as citizens first, asserting that the BJP's two-thirds majority in West Bengal had demonstrated that governments could be formed without depending on minority votes.

"This perception among Muslims that they are a minority has to go. The BJP has demonstrated that it can come to power with a two-thirds majority without fielding a single Muslim candidate and without depending on minority votes," he said.

The state BJP chief said, "We want Muslims to behave not as minorities but as citizens of West Bengal and India." At the same time, he warned against religious radicalisation, saying it posed a threat not only to the country but also to Muslims themselves.

"The days of Dar-ul-Islam and Dar-ul-Harb politics are over. Radicalisation is dangerous for Hindus, for the country and for Muslims as well," he said.

Bhattacharya maintained that the government's welfare and development agenda would apply equally to all communities.

Despite the BJP's emphatic mandate, Bhattacharya insisted that the party organisation would not interfere in governance.

"For the BJP, today's religion is democracy and today's politics is development. This is the Government of West Bengal, not a BJP government. It is run by the chief minister and his council of ministers. The party's role is to ensure that promises made to the people are fulfilled,” he said.

"The BJP will act as a watchdog. We will extend all support whenever required, but there will be no interference in day-to-day administration. We want to bring that change to West Bengal," he said.

One of the principal architects of the BJP's breakthrough victory, Bhattacharya admitted that the magnitude of the achievement was still taking time to sink in.

"The biggest challenge before us is to weed out those four-hour BJP workers who picked up BJP flags after noon on May 4, the day of the assembly election results," he said.

He also sought to distinguish political change and political revenge, saying the BJP had consciously restrained its cadre despite years of political violence.

"Since 2016, 329 BJP workers have lost their lives due to political violence. Yet we have protected several former TMC ministers and leaders from possible attacks and public anger. That is one of our biggest achievements.

"Many party workers criticised me on social media for saying this. But I continue to stand by it because we are not the TMC. We are a party with a difference," Bhattachrya added.