Two Bengal leaders join BJP National Working Committee

Kolkata, Aug 17 (IANS) Two prominent faces from West Bengal have found berths in the new National Working Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), signifying the importance of the party’s West Bengal unit for the national leadership in the backdrop of the BJP’s landslide victory in the recently concluded elections.

The new faces are the party’s Lok Sabha member from Alipurduar constituency in north Bengal, Manoj Tigga, who was earlier the Chief Whip of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly, and the party’s former state vice‑president in West Bengal, Madhuchanda Kar, an acclaimed medical professional.

While Tigga has been allotted the chair of BJP’s National Secretary, Kar has been allotted the post of the party’s National Vice President.

The last time two prominent faces from West Bengal were allotted important berths in BJP’s National Working Committee was in 2020.

The Trinamool Congress‑turned‑BJP leader, Late Mukul Roy, was then allotted the chair of the party’s National Vice President. At the same time, Anupam Hazra was allotted the chair of the party’s National Secretary.

After the BJP’s electoral victory in West Bengal this year, the state was expected to gain greater importance in the party’s all‑India leadership. After six years, two representatives from West Bengal have again been made central office bearers of the BJP together.

Although she officially joined the BJP in 2020, Madhuchanda Kar was once the state vice‑president of the RSS student body Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). She was no longer active in politics after her student life.

A cancer specialist, she became the co‑convener of the state BJP’s medical cell in 2020. Within a few days, she became a member of the state executive.

In 2022, when Sukanta Majumdar was the president of the West Bengal BJP, Kar was the state vice‑president. However, she was not included in the new committee Samik Bhattacharya formed in 2025 after he became state president.

Many successful personalities joined the BJP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But after the party’s defeat in the 2021 Assembly polls, many of them distanced themselves from the party. Kar did not follow that path.

She became the party’s booth agent in ward number 39 of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation in the 2022 municipal elections. There was speculation that she could get a BJP ticket in Bidhannagar in this year’s Assembly elections. However, that did not happen.

Meanwhile, Manoj Tigga is a longer‑time BJP leader than Kar and is more experienced in parliamentary politics. He is from a remote village in Madarihat block in Alipurduar district. In 2004, he first contested the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate.

He did not win but came second behind the Congress. He contested the Lok Sabha elections again in 2009 and the Madarihat Assembly seat in the 2011 Assembly polls, losing both times.

However, he won from Madarihat as a BJP candidate in the 2016 Assembly elections. He won again in Madarihat in the 2021 Assembly polls. While Suvendu Adhikari became the Leader of the Opposition, Tigga became the Chief Whip of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly. Later, he was made the president of the district BJP to strengthen the party in Alipurduar district.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Tigga was nominated from the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat. He won and became an MP. He later became the party’s state vice-president. This time, he has been appointed National Secretary.

–IANS

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