A “sigh of relief” appears to have become the latest bone of contention in the Bengal BJP.

Babul Supriyo said in a social media post on Saturday that he had not understood “in his full senses” what state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh had meant in a purported comment on his exit from the new Narendra Modi ministry earlier this week.

Supriyo, the Asansol MP, said in the Facebook post in Bengali: “As state president, Dilipda often says things to his heart’s content. He has said something again, I have heard it. But what is the harm if I don’t understand this time in my full senses why he made such a comment? This is my reaction. I am happy that Dilipda is happy with my ‘sigh of relief’. He is the state president, respected by all. I, too, convey my heartfelt respect to Dilipda.”

Ghosh had been quoted as saying by some media outlets that Supriyo had been an active minister, but the chief minister used to abuse him a lot. “Now, Babul must have heaved a sigh of relief,” Ghosh had been quoted as saying while reacting to Supriyo’s exit from Modi’s ministry.

Dilip Ghosh. File photo

Ghosh told reporters on Saturday that he had been “misrepresented”. The Telegraph tried to contact him but calls to his phone went unanswered.

The Bengal BJP chief was during the day summoned to Delhi by national president J.P. Nadda for a meeting on Sunday.

Sources in the BJP claimed the Midnapore MP had been called over his purported comments on Supriyo, who had posted on social media after the July 7 cabinet shuffle that he had been asked to resign but had later amended his comment to say that he had resigned.

Asked why he was going to Delhi, Ghosh said: “I wanted to sit with him (Nadda) after the polls. That didn’t happen. Now he has called me. I will speak to him on the issues I had wanted to.”

Youth wing murmurs

BJP sources claimed that state youth wing chief and Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan, who has been publicly critical of Bengal’s leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and Ghosh, could be removed from his post.

Khan, who had himself expressed his desire to quit in a Facebook post on July 7 apparently after he was denied a berth in the Union ministry, was unavailable for comment.

Three names are doing the rounds as the next probable BJP Yuva Morcha president for Bengal.

Biman Ghosh, the BJP MLA of Purshura and a close aide of Ghosh, is said to be the frontrunner.

Amid growing speculation that Supriyo and Khan could be showcaused over their public comments, Saptarshi Chowdhury, the in-charge of the BJP’s Bengal media cell,

issued a statement saying no such notice had been issued. Sources close to both MPs told this newspaper none of them had received any notice.