The decision of the BJP leadership to induct Trinamul turncoat MLA Arindam Bhattacharya has angered many district party workers and leaders in the Santipur Assembly segment in particular and Nadia in general.

Many BJP workers and leaders wrote to the state leadership on Thursday, calling the party’s decision to enrol Bhattacharya “suicidal”.

Bhattacharya had won in 2016 as a Congress candidate from Santipur Assembly seat in Nadia and switched over to the Trinamul in 2017 to join the BJP on Wednesday.

Trouble began for the BJP leadership within a few hours of Bhattacharya’s induction when Sufal Sikdar, son of slain BJP leader Biplab Sikdar in Santipur, through a video post on social media questioned the party’s decision.

“My father was killed because of a conspiracy hatched by the MLA. People here even installed a bust of my father...How can I as a BJP activist accept a person who has shattered our lives? I heard that he will visit our area. If he dares to, villagers will welcome him with a garland of shoes,” Sufal told this paper.

On May 23, 2019, Sufal’s father Biplab, a booth committee president of the BJP, was gunned down allegedly by Trinamul-backed goons.

Sufal said the apparent motive behind the murder was an attempt to grab power at the local Haripur-Methirdanga panchayat by ensuring the defection of six BJP candidates.

“My father earned the wrath of Trinamul as he refused to join the party or hand over the panchayat. The MLA was behind my father’s murder. We filed a complaint against him, but the police never dared to arrest him,” said Sufal. His mother Sankari said: “We are shocked that the BJP leadership did not respect our pain.”

BJP’s Nadia south unit convened an emergency meeting of aggrieved leaders and workers at its Ranaghat office, but party workers said they would not budge.

BJP’s Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar said he had no role behind the MLA’s induction and had no comment to offer.

“It is the decision of the top party brass but I will inform the leadership about the resentment of party workers,” Sarkar said.

MLA Bhattacharya told this paper: “I will work according to the party’s directive.”

In Asansol, a group of old-timers from Kutli and Barabani went to the district BJP office and told senior BJP leaders including Arvind Menon, on how old-timers were being neglected to accommodate “Trinamul turncoats”.