Bickering within the Bengal BJP aggravated on Thursday as four MLAs from Bankura wrote to the party’s national president J.P. Nadda seeking the removal of the Bankura organisational district chief.

A day earlier, five of the six BJP MLAs from Purulia had made a similar request before Nadda. The MLAs had urged the national president to remove the newly appointed chief of the Purulia organisational district.

This is the first time in BJP’s history that a group of MLAs has written directly to the national leadership demanding the removal of their respective district presidents.

Although none of the MLAs confirmed that the letters had been sent, sources in the BJP said the move was made at the behest of the party’s dissenting leaders.

“The new presidents of Bankura and Purulia have been appointed by our general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty. By seeking their removal, the MLAs are challenging Amitavada’s authority,” a source in the party said.

This source also said one of the dissenting MLAs from Purulia, Narahari Mahato, held a meeting with the group of dissenters on Tuesday. Several other BJP MLAs had also met the dissenters virtually and the letters were sent following decisions at the meetings.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mahato said the issue was internal matter of the party and he wouldn’t like to discuss it in public.

Niladri Sekhar Dana, an MLA from Bankura, said the leadership should “work together with old timers as well”. However, Dana expressed ignorance about the letter sent to Nadda.

The BJP leaders, however, refused to comment on the developments happening within the party. Party’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said he wasn’t aware of any letter being sent to Nadda.