“As a party we are opposed to the bandh culture and the people of West Bengal suffer the most because of this obnoxious culture. Just on April 21 the state saw a bandh called by the Trinamool Congress and the SUCI. By supporting this bandh on May 2 we don’t want to aggravate the problems of the people. We took the matter up with our party leadership and they agreed with us. That is why there will be no bandh on May 2 in this state,” Sinha said.

He also criticised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her comments that her party was fighting against both CPIM and the Congress in the state. “The idea dawned upon her very late. She should have understood that both of those parties were equally inimical to her party. She also said that the Malda Zila Parishad was run by an alliance comprising Congress and the BJP. But she did not say that even the Trinamool Congress was a part of that,” Sinha said. The BJP has filed nominations for 9,832 seats of gram panchayats, 2,232 seats of panchayat samities, and 483 seats of zilla parishads.