BJP will reach out to the refugees from Bangladesh, who are mostly Hindus, in poll-bound West Bengal and Assam where it aims to project itself as a defender of "persecuted" Bangladeshi minorities.
BJP national secretary and West Bengal co-incharge Sidharth Nath Singh said the party will run a campaign in over 75 assembly constituencies where the presence of such refugees is significant.
Sources said a similar campaign will be run in Assam where the infiltration issue is much more emotive and politically crucial.
The party is likely to politically encash the Central government's notification in September last in which it gave protection to Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities from punitive measures on "humanitarian" grounds.
While the party has a realistic shot at power in Assam, it hopes to emerge as a strong force in West Bengal by highlighting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "vote-bank" politics which, it alleges, fuelled violence by "anti-national" forces in Malda.
Stepping up its campaign in Bengal, BJP will hold "booth chalo" drive between February 11-20 and then meetings across the 294 assembly constituencies of the state.
"Top party leaders will hold meet with workers in the 'booth chalo' drive," Singh said, adding that they will target Benerjee's 'parivartan' (change) theme as 'parivartan nahi patan' (no change but fall).
The party has kicked off its campaign with a rally by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on January 18 and others, including Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and party chief Amit Shah, will hold more rallies till 25 after which it aims to consolidate its support base in February before unveiling big rallies later.
