BJP’s national vice-president Dilip Ghosh and state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday clarified the party’s support for a unified Bengal, but its Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma reiterated his demand for a referendum on Gorkhaland to gauge the mood of the hill population.

The divergent views continued to emerge from Bengal BJP leaders on the united Bengal a day after the Assembly had passed a motion against the state’s further division.

During the discussion on the resolution against the division of the state in the Assembly on Monday, leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said his party wanted to create “One Bengal, the greatest Bengal” and didn’t support the state’s division.

However, speaking ahead of Adhikari, lawmakers like Sharma and Darjeeling’s Niraj Tamang Zimba spoke in favour of a separate state of Darjeeling.

Throwing his weight behind Adhikari’s demand for a unified state of Bengal, Ghosh said that BJP believed in “one Bengal”.

“We will turn this one Bengal into Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal). BJP’s policy is very clear...What happened in the Assembly is just a drama. There is no development, no money. This is why the people are getting confused,” Ghosh told reporters in New Jalpaiguri.

Speaking to journalists in Calcutta, Majumdar said: “BJP’s stand is very clear. BJP wants to keep Bengal just the way it was dreamt of by Syama Prasad Mookerjee and it will remain so. BJP will keep it intact.”

While the three key leaders tried to amplify the party’s stand against dividing the state, Sharma reiterated the issue was neither for the BJP nor the Trinamul to decide.

“I had clearly said that a referendum must be taken in the hills to see what the people there want. I said this inside the House on Monday and I’ll repeat it today,” Sharma said.

Asked if his demand contradicted his party’s stand, Sharma said that he would not go against the party to which he belonged. However, headded, he could not overlook the voice of the people who had voted for him.

“I’ve been to the Assembly even when I was unwell. Never have I gone against the party. But that doesn’t nullify the demand of the people,” he said.

BJP sources said the incoherence within the party over the state issue could harm its credibility in the hills.

The conflict within the BJP has given the Trinamul a handle to accuse the saffron camp of double standards.

“This is BJP’s duplicity. They are in favour of dividing Bengal. But they know if they publicly voiced their support for the division of Bengal, people of state barring the hills will not vote for them. This is why the party is speaking in dual voices. Their leaders from the hills are voicing one line, while those from the plains are speaking in a different voice,” said Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

BJP MLAs demonstrated inside the House and on the portico of the Assembly on Tuesday demanding an apology from parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee, who had allegedly referred to Gorkhas as outsiders and tribals as migrants during his speech on Monday.