Bengal BJP leaders had been forewarned about the possibility of widespread protests against new state committee, which dropped several prominent faces of the party, but the new team at the helm went on with the sweeping changes with the understanding that they were capable of crushing any rebellion.

As discontent in the saffron camp over the composition of the new state committee has resulted in unprecedented consequences, multiple sources in the party have confirmed that state president Sukanta Majumdar was forewarned by senior leaders — like former state president Dilip Ghosh — about the inevitability of large-scale protests.

“Not once, but Dilipda had warned Sukantada at least twice. Our new president was told that the proposed new committee was stuffed with inefficient people who have no knowledge of the ground reality. Dilipda had told Sukantada that he would find it difficult to work with them and there would be large-scale protests,” a source close to Ghosh said before adding that some other senior leaders also spoke about the same possibility.

According to the source, the ruling duo in the state BJP — Majumdar and general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty — indicated that they were not worried about any rebellion as they were sure about nipping any protest in the bud.

“This hubris of the two leaders and some of their aides triggered the rebellion.... They will see how the protests spread from one place to another,” said a source.

On December 22, the state BJP leadership announced the names of new members of the state committee.

A source said Ghosh had disapproved of several names for the new state committee even before they were finalised. He had even told Majumdar that Chakraborty would have his way and induct people close to him, if the president didn’t take a stand.

“The new president buckled under pressure from Chakraborty and his aides... It was subtly conveyed that no changes would be made to the state committee as they were not worried about any rebellion,” said a source.

Ghosh refused to comment. Majumdar, however, denied that any such conversation had even taken place between them.

“This isn’t correct. Dilipda’s suggestions were taken before finalising the state committee. He had given us a few names. Some of them were also inducted, while some of them weren’t,” Majumdar told this newspaper.

Unrest and protests were reported from several districts after the party announced the new committees of 25 of its 42 organisational districts over Wednesday and Thursday.

Sunita Jhawar, a former councillor, was inducted as a vice-president into the new North Calcutta district committee, which was announced on Thursday afternoon. Within a couple of hours, Jhawar sent her resignation letter to the district president, Kalyan Chowbey, and said she wanted to work as an ordinary party worker.

In Jhargram, agitated BJP workers locked the doors of the district party office over their disgruntlement with the new district committee. These people alleged that the new district president had dropped all old-timers to induct people of his own choice. Agitators took down BJP flags from the party office in Jhargram and Gopiballavpur. The former district president of Jhargram, Sukhamoy Satpati, reached the district office later to pacify the agitators.

In Alipurduar, Bhaskar Dey, who has been named as a vice-president in the new district committee, claimed that he had resigned from the party last June and had no idea how his name was included. Multiple old-timers from Malda and Jalpaiguri were also dropped from the new district committees, which led to protests.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty and Siliguri bureau