Five dissident BJP old-timers, dropped from the party’s state committee, met junior Union minister Shantanu Thakur on Sunday in a bid to strengthen an increasingly growing lobby against the current state leadership, said sources in the party.

Former state vice-presidents Ritesh Tiwari and Joy Prakash Majumdar, former general-secretary Sayantan Basu, and BJP leader Samiran Saha met Thakur — the Bongaon MP and an influential leader in the Matua sect — at his residence in Thakurnagar of North 24-Parganas. Another BJP leader was also present in the meeting, although sources refused to disclose his name, even on assurance of anonymity.

Thakur is, by far, the strongest leader among this group of dissenters, and that is why he was chosen to communicate the views of the faction to the national leadership, said the sources.

“Thakur has a better leverage with the national leaders since he is a (junior) Union minister. Additionally, he is a key leader of the Matua sect and commands a bulk of their votes. Hence, he has been tasked to lead the group and communicate with the top-tier leadership in Delhi,” said a source in the BJP.

The recent reshuffle in the BJP state committee has triggered a multi-front skirmish between numerous factions within the bitterly divided house that is the beleaguered Bengal unit of the party.

Last week, Thakur quit all official WhatsApp groups run by the state unit and lashed out at the current state leadership for allegedly ignoring the Matua sect. Previously, five MLAs from the community had quit an official WhatsApp group of the state’s BJP MLAs, in protest of lack of Matua representation in the new state committee. Several other non-Matua MLAs from Bankura and Bishnupur – besides countless other leaders who are not elected representatives -- have also quit similar WhatsApp groups over the same issue.

Majumdar had earlier been in multiple meetings with other leaders who have not been included in the new committee. Former vice-president Banerjee was present in one such meeting. He had also met the BJP’s Kharagpur Sadar MLA Hiran Chatterjee, who quit all state unit WhatsApp groups recently and lashed out at former state unit chief Dilip Ghosh.

Some other dissenters, however, aren’t happy with the idea of Thakur gaining importance in the lobby. They are unwilling to let him have the upper hand.

“He (Thakur) already has a much stronger position – undeservedly so -- than most of us. He is a (junior) Union minister and can manipulate the central leadership to his benefit… leaving the rest of us in the lurch,” said one of them.

When asked to react to this development, former state unit chief Ghosh – also purportedly unhappy with being replaced -- said that it was only natural for those dropped from the committee to look for ways to fend for themselves.

“They are meeting to discuss their future,” said the Midnapore MP.