The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, has helped the BJP win two Lok Sabha seats — Tamluk and Kanthi — by a narrow margin but he was facing questions within the party as to why he failed to retain two seats in undivided Midnapore — Jhargram and Medinipur — even after leading the party in the area.

In undivided Midnapore, the BJP had won two seats — Jhargram and Midnapore — out of five under the leadership of Dilip Ghosh in 2019. This time, the party won two seats — Tamluk and Kanthi — in the undivided Midnapore.

"It was expected that Suvendu would help us win the Kanthi and Tamluk seats on his home turf East Midnapore. But questions will be raised about why the BJP could not retain Medinipur and Jhargram even though the central leadership gave him all possible assistance," said a BJP insider.

Sources in the BJP said Adhikari would face questions about his credibility since his decisions on all the five seats in undivided Midnapore were approved by the central leadership. He shifted sitting MP Dilip Ghosh from Medinipur, gave the ticket to Hiranmoy Chatterjee in Ghatal and changed sitting MP Kunar Hembram in Jhargram.

Besides, Adhikari fielded former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay in Tamluk and his brother Soumendu Adhikari in Kanthi.

"It is a fact he gave the BJP two new seats — Kanthi and Tamluk — but failed to retain two seats. So, questions would be raised why he would be given the importance over other leaders in the party," said a BJP insider.

Sources also said BJP veterans would not spare Suvendu after the dismal show in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Suvendu has to answer why he forced Dilipda to move out from the Medinipur seat he had won by a margin of 88,952 votes in 2019 and why he was sent to Burdwan-Durgapur, a seat where the lead was a mere 1,500. Suvendu has to take the responsibility for the defeat of Dilipda," said an old-timer of the party.

Sources in the BJP also pointed out that the Centre's decision to hold back funds under the 100-day rural employment plan and the rural housing scheme had backfired. The BJP failed to put up a good show in Jungle Mahal, where these schemes are immensely important.

"Suvendu has to take responsibility for the outcome as he was the person who had persuaded the central leadership to stop the release of funds under the schemes alleging irregularities in Bengal. This gave a chance to the Trinamool Congress to give Rs 2,800 crore to 59 lakh people to clear their wage dues ahead of the polls. This worked in favour of the ruling party in Bengal," said a source.

Also, Trinamool got a chance to promise that it would release funds for the construction of 11 lakh rural dwelling units from the state exchequer since the Centre had stopped the release of funds under the scheme.

Sources said Suvendu had emerged as the face of the BJP in Bengal after he had defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly polls.

The dismal show of the BJP in Bengal was a face loss for Adhikari otherwise, as he had made it a personal battle with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of Trinamool.