Former Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, often called the most successful BJP president in the state, was removed from the post of party national vice-president on Saturday in a reshuffle.
Though Ghosh claimed the BJP had decided to relieve all sitting MPs from organisational duties so that they could focus on their constituencies ahead of Lok Sabha polls, sources in the state BJP unit said he was removed from the organisational post for his differences with party colleagues Sukanta Majumdar and Suvendu Adhikari.
Balurghat MP Majumdar succeeded him as BJP Bengal chief. Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in the 2022 Assembly polls, is the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
The three-way faction feud between these three BJP leaders is an open secret in the party.
“The party has decided to relieve MPs from organisational responsibility and nothing much should be read into it,” Ghosh said.
Majumdar echoed Ghosh. "The party wants all the MPs to have enough time to work in their constituencies. This is probably why Dilipda has been relieved," he said.
Some BJP sources claimed that a major role in the Narendra Modi cabinet awaited Ghosh. A cabinet rejig is due in a few days and newer inductions from Bengal could be in the pipeline.
In any case, even if Ghosh becomes a Union minister, he will have a lesser say in the functioning of the Bengal unit than as a national vice-president.
Ghosh has been vocal, both privately and publicly, about his discontent with how the state unit of the party is pursuing its goal of replacing Mamata Banerjee and her government.
"Even at a meeting with the central leaders at the Salt Lake office a few days back, Dilipda said that the party's performance in north Bengal and Jungle Mahal wasn't as expected. It was of course a jibe at Sukantada and his team. The relationship between Dilipda and Suvenduda is also not very cordial either. With him no more in a decision-making position, the other two will have one less thing to worry about," a source said.
Ghosh was the chief of the Bengal BJP from November 2015 to September 2021, after which Majumdar took over the reins of the state unit from him. Then, Ghosh was inducted into the national committee as a vice-president.
It was under Ghosh's stewardship that the Bengal BJP put up its best show ever, winning 18 parliamentary seats in 2019 and 77 Assembly seats in 2021.
After the rejig in the party announced on Saturday, Anupam Hazra remains the only representative from Bengal in the national organisation. Hazra, who switched to the BJP after being expelled from the Trinamul in 2019, unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls the same year. He continues to be a BJP national secretary.
"Since Anupam Hazra is not an MP, he continues to be in his position," Majumdar said.
Hazra expressed his gratitude to the central leaders of his party and said he would "resume" work in Bengal from Sunday. Lately, his role was limited to sharing intellectual inputs with the central unit.
Thakur slams Mamata
Union minister Anurag Thakur in Calcutta on Saturday alleged the violence that unfolded in Bengal during the rural polls was carried out at the instructions of Trinamul chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Union information and broadcasting minister claimed 57 people lost their lives in poll-related skirmishes.
"I want to say that in the panchayat polls 57 people were killed to fulfil the wishes of Mamata Banerjee. Bengal's law and order are in a shambles," Thakur said, adding that Trinamul workers resorted to hooliganism under the instructions of the chief minister.
Taking a dig at the team of parliamentarians from the INDIA alliance visiting Manipur under the leadership of Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Thakur said the Behrampore MP must visit the strife-torn places of his own state as well.
State industries ministry Sashi Panja hit back at Thakur and questioned the timing of his visit to Bengal when "Manipur is burning".
