BJP state president Dilip Ghosh shot down a list of district presidents of the Yuva Morcha within minutes of Saumitra Khan, the state chief of the youth wing, circulating it within the party and uploading it on social media on Friday evening.

“I spoke to him (Khan) and asked him to withdraw the list,” said Ghosh on Saturday evening.

On Friday, Khan circulated a list of the district youth presidents in the party’s WhatsApp group for the media and on the youth wing’s Facebook page.

In less than half an hour, the list — it had 29 names though the BJP has 39 organisational districts — was removed from the WhatsApp group amid questions on why Khan pulled it out. The Trinamul turncoat told reporters on Friday that the list was not meant for the media.

Ghosh, however, offered a different narrative when asked about the vanished list.

“His (Khan’s) procedure was not right and so it was withdrawn. How can he announce the names of district (youth) presidents without a go-ahead from the state leadership?” asked Ghosh, making his disapproval of Khan’s list clear.

“I as the party’s state president will take the final call on who would be the presidents of the youth wing in the districts,” Ghosh added.

Told about Ghosh’s comments on Saturday evening, Khan hardened his stand and said the list he circulated on Friday was the final one. “In the capacity of the president of the Bengal unit of the (BJP) Yuva Morcha, I can tell you this is the final list... Dilipda hasn’t told me that it is not the final list,” Khan told this paper.

Sources close to Khan said that he was upset with Ghosh for two reasons. “First, he shot down the list. Then, he insulted Khan by saying the process of selecting the district presidents was wrong,” said a source.

Multiple sources in party said the furore over the youth wing list was reflective of the main problem in Bengal BJP.

“Dilipda is against the idea of giving any space to Trinamul turncoats like Khan or Mukul Roy. This is creating factionalism, and that is only growing,” said a source. According to him, Ghosh and his associates have a set of names in mind for the Yuva Morcha. “But Khan wants his associates and that’s the conflict,” he said.

This is, however, not the first time that Khan and Ghosh have been at odds with each other. Since June, when he was made the chief of the youth wing, Khan has been complaining that Ghosh was not allowing him to form the new state committee.