Former Bengal BJP president Tathagata Roy on Wednesday accused senior party leaders of abandoning the workers at the grassroots at a time they were targeted in post-poll results violence.
“A very close person came crying today. Said a few thousand men who had worked for BJP have been driven out by Trinamul goons. They will possibly have to pay hefty sums of money to be allowed to return. I am helpless. Of the state leaders KSA have run away. D doesn’t receive calls!” Roy, the former governor of Tripura and Meghalaya, wrote on twitter.
He has been targeting four BJP leaders for the party’s debacle and using the first letters of their names to describe the quartet in his tweets. K stands for BJP national general secretary and minder for Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya, S national joint general secretary (organisation) Shivprakash, A co-minder Arvind Menon and D state party president Dilip Ghosh.
Multiple state and district BJP leaders have told this correspondent that while they don’t have the courage to be as outspoken as Roy, they share his views and hold the likes of Vijayvargiya, Shivprakash and Menon responsible for the party’s debacle as they got Trinamul turncoats to contest for the BJP in the Assembly elections.
Referring to Roy’s tweet, a BJP functionary said a female worker from a rural area had called up Dilip Ghosh on May 3 morning for help after her house had been attacked by alleged Trinamul workers. “However, the call to Ghosh was attended by someone else at first and when the Midnapore MP finally answered, he dispassionately said he had nothing to do.”
“How can a state president react like this? Whom are we to look up to in times of need if our chief turns us away?”
Roy’s jibes at the state leaders prompted some of them to lodge complaints with the central leaders, following which he was summoned to Delhi on May 6. But he could not visit the capital because he was detected with Covid-19.
Roy told The Telegraph on Thursday that he was still unwell but planned to visit Delhi once the capital came out of lockdown.
“I will submit a report on why and how the party lost in Bengal when I visit Delhi,” he said, making it clear that he didn’t regret the tweets.
