Locket Chatterjee could be among the CM faces of BJP for Bengal polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has changed its Mahila Morcha president in Bengal. Locket Chatterjee, who was heading the Mahila Morcha for three years, has been made state BJP general secretary, while Kolkata-based fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, who was earlier in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will now lead the BJP’s Mahila Morcha.
 

Chatterjee, whose new appointment is being seen as a promotion of sorts, is seen as one of the leaders in Bengal who has been seen taking on the TMC-ruled Bengal government fiercely on every issue. Sources in the BJP hint that Locket Chatterjee could be among the chief ministerial faces of the party in the run up to the 2021 Assembly polls in the state..
 

Payback time
 

Last week, the Uttarakhand High Court ruled against a state law that allowed former chief ministers to stay in government bungalows without paying the market rent.This means that unless they appeal, former chief ministers will have to pay market rent for the period except the years when they were CMs. The state can also recover from them the money spent over other facilities given to them. In this context, an incident comes to mind. The National Democratic Alliance lost the 2004 elections under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Within hours of the result, Vajpayee ordered his personal staff to start packing up. One his associates advised him that he could retain his accommodation for a month afterwards. Vajpayee was both aghast and angry. “one month? Never. We will move out tomorrow” he ordered.