Dilip Ghosh moved from Bengal affairs, gets charge of 8 other states

KOLKATA: BJP national vice-president and former state president Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday was given the charge to manage the weak booths in eight states, excluding Bengal, triggering speculations in the political circle about his importance in Bengal politics being apparently fading away.

According to sources in the BJP, the saffron party has taken up the task to strengthen its booths across the country with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It is being claimed that in line with the same objective, Ghosh has been entrusted with the task of strengthening the party's organisation in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andaman, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam. After BJP's poll debacle in the last state Assembly polls in Bengal, Ghosh was removed from the post of party's state president all of a sudden, even before the completion of his tenure. He was made the national vice-president of the party last September. Time and again, differences between the party's state leadership and Ghosh had surfaced.

According to reports, the state leaders had complained against Ghosh to the central leadership. In the month of May, Ghosh was apparently not called to the meeting between Amit Shah and other state leaders in Bengal. Amid such circumstances, political experts have expressed their doubts regarding Ghosh's importance in Bengal politics.

Earlier, senior BJP leader and former Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy had blamed Ghosh along with other senior leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shiv Prakash and Arvind Menon for the poll debacle of the saffron camp. However, as per reports both Ghosh and the BJP had rubbished such claims. Sources said Ghosh had claimed that he would abide by the party's decision. Meanwhile, as reported, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Dilip Ghosh should 'understand' his position

in BJP.