BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of contesting the forthcoming Assembly polls in Bengal, while sources in the saffron camp said Trinamul turncoat Mukul Roy had been asked to fight from a seat in Nadia district.

“I’m not contesting in the polls,” Ghosh told journalists after emerging from a daylong meeting at party’s national chief J.P. Nadda’s residence in Delhi on Wednesday.

Although Ghosh didn’t explain why he was unwilling to contest the polls, party insiders said the Midnapore MP didn’t want to take any risk. Ghosh evaded answers as he was in a hurry to reach the party’s headquarters where the central election committee met in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In other BJP ruled states, none of the state chiefs, who later became chief ministers, had contested the polls. Once they were made chief ministers, they fought byelections within six months and became MLAs.

“Dilipda wouldn’t take a risk of fighting the polls. If he is made the CM, he will get elected in a bypoll,” a source close to Ghosh said and added that leaders, including Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his Karnataka counterpart B.S. Yediyurappa, had taken the byelection route.

Although Ghosh ruled out fighting polls, Roy, who is 66-years-old and underwent a major eye surgery last year, might have to contest elections. He might be nominated from any of the three seats — Krishnanagar North, Krishnanagar South or Karimpur. Former state chief and former national secretary Rahul Sinha and state general secretary Sayantan Basu are also expected to contest polls.

Ghosh, Roy, Sinha and other key state leaders attended the meeting at Nadda’s house that went on for over seven hours. Other state leaders, including general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty and Trinamul turncoat Rajib Banerjee, were present at the meeting.

Sources said Union home minister Amit Shah would address a rally in Nandigram on March 21.

The discontent amongst party workers at the grassroots over the selection of some of the candidates was discussed at the meeting, a source said. To ensure that such instances weren’t repeated, the leadership had a prolonged meeting where multiple names were debated upon for one constituency.

At the end of the meeting, only four names were finalised for the four seats that will go to polls in the third phase and were not yet announced. Chandan Mandal has been nominated from Baruipur East, Bidhan Parui from Falta, actor Paapia Adhikari from Uluberia South and Anupam Ghosh from Jagatballavpur. The last date of filing nomination for these seats is Friday.

Candidates for eight seats for the fourth phase of polls remain to be announced.

Protests over choice of candidates were reported on Wednesday as well. Sayantan Basu, who is also the observer for the party’s north Bengal zone, was gheraoed in Alipurduar while he was at a meeting with the district leadership. Workers in Alipurduar have been protesting against the nomination of a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha turncoat Bishal Lama from Kalichini.

“I met district leaders and the issue has been resolved,” Basu told The Telegraph.

Suvendu faces protest

Trinamul turncoat and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari ran into protests by Trinamul-backed villagers at Bhekutia in East Midnapore’s Nandigram block 2 on Wednesday evening.

Suvendu had gone to visit the house of a BJP supporter and on his way back, around 50 villagers, mostly women, blocked his convey and demonstrated with brooms and shoes.

They raised “go back” slogans and accused Suvendu, who is the BJP’s candidate from Nandigram, of betraying the cause of the anti-land acquisition movement.

The seeds of Wednesday’s protest lay in the judiciary, prompted by a BJP leader, preventing the withdrawal of two murder cases, with 63 accused between them, from the time of the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram.

Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), the umbrella body of the movement with representation from the major non-Left political forces, believes that BJP’s decision to challenge the withdrawal of cases against their leaders were done at the behest of Suvendu.

Additional reporting by Anshuman Phadikar