BJP’s national vice-president Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said the central leadership’s letter asking him to refrain from speaking publicly about party colleagues had been “deliberately” made available to journalists even before it reached the recipient and he knew who was behind it.

A letter addressed to Ghosh and signed by Arun Singh, a national general secretary of the BJP, on Tuesday conveyed to the Midnapore MP the party’s “deep anguish and concern” about his statements targeting colleagues in the saffron organisation.

Ghosh, the former chief of the Bengal BJP, on Wednesday acknowledged that he had received the letter. However, he sounded critical of the way a letter written by Singh and addressed to him had been accessed by journalists even before it reached the recipient.

“I wouldn’t call it a leak. This has been done deliberately. I know who is behind this and I’m enquiring how this happened,” Ghosh told The Telegraph.

“The way this was done, will it do the party any good?”

He said “multiple discrepancies” had caught his eyes. “Usually, such letters come from a certain email id. However, this letter has come from a separate one. That is abnormal,” Ghosh said.

Asked if he believed the letter from Arun Singh had been the result of complaints lodged against him by the state unit, Ghosh said he wouldn’t comment. However, he added that it was unlikely that the central leadership would send him such a letter without inputs from the state BJP.

Ghosh said it was unclear which of his comments had been deemed objectionable by the party. “I’ve never done anything against the party. Nor have I said anything against any of my colleagues,” he said.

Although Ghosh said he would abide by any instruction sent to him by the central leaders, it was unlikely that the Midnapore MP would change his ways. “I’ll speak to the central unit on this issue. But Dilip Ghosh will always remain Dilip Ghosh,” he said.