Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari hasn’t been allotted a room at the state headquarters of the BJP in central Calcutta as the party started refurbishing the building and allocating space for office-bearers.
The ongoing revamp of the office at 6 Muralidhar Sen Lane has once again exposed the widening cracks in the BJP, in which state president Dilip Ghosh and Adhikari are at loggerheads with each other.
Almost all key leaders, including Ghosh, state BJP vice-president Pratap Banerjee and state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty, were allotted rooms at the headquarters. A single room was kept for five general secretaries of the state unit. Former Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha, who currently holds no position in the party, got a separate room.
The only exception is Adhikari, whose meteoric rise in the BJP soon after his switch from the Trinamul Congress has drawn criticism from a section of leaders in the saffron camp, especially those owing allegiance to Ghosh.
“Since Suvenduda joined (on December 19, 2020), most of our work was being done from the party’s Hastings office. But all leaders have shifted back to the headquarters which is being refurbished. Room allotment has been done on the basis of priority,” a state BJP functionary said.
Another BJP source said: ‘There is no concrete plan to allot a room for Suvendu at the state headquarters.”
Many in the BJP believe the delay in allotting a room for Adhikari is a ploy by a section of leaders to keep him outside the organisational activities. Similar allegations were reported against Ghosh and his associates by leaders close to Mukul Roy who later went back to Trinamul.
“It appears that a section of BJP leaders is applying the same tactics against Suvenduda that they had used against Mukulda,” another state leader said.
The state BJP headquarters is being refurbished in the wake of the party’s decision to release three floors in the Hastings office, which it had taken on rent ahead of the Assembly elections. Although thousands of people would flock together at Hastings office before the polls, it wears a deserted look post the debacle, which many believe is the reason why three floors were released.
On the other hand, leaders close to Ghosh said Adhikari had hardly been to the headquarters in the past eight months. Adhikari, who visited the headquarters not more than three times, continues to hold a room at the Hastings office.
Asked if the BJP planned to allot a room for Adhikari at all, general secretary Sayantan Basu said: “Yes, we have thought of giving him a room.”
However, leaders aware of the issue said nothing of that sort had yet been decided.
Dilip Ghosh. File photo
Basu said 74 MLAs of the BJP would be asked to sit and meet at the Hastings office, where the party still has two floors. “All organisational work will be done from the headquarters. Hastings office will be for the legislative party,” he added.
A BJP source said it could be a ploy to keep Adhikari at bay from the party headquarters.
Sunil’s protest
Trinamul Congress MP Sunil Mondal, who had announced his switch to the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls, on Monday said he was with the Trinamul Congress and would remain with the party. He was also seen on Monday demonstrating against the BJP in the Lok Sabha, alongside Trinamul MPs. Kalyan Banerjee, a Trinamul MP, who had once attacked Mondal for switching sides, reiterated that Mondal was a Trinamul MP.
