KOLKATA: Central security provided to celebrity BJP candidates who lost the election was withdrawn within a month after the results of the Assembly election was announced.
It may be mentioned that BJP has provided Y category security to Sisir Adkikari and Dibyendu Adhikari, who are still carrying on as Trinamool MPs.
The election results were announced on May 2 and it was found that the star candidates to whom the central security was provided had lost. The BJP had given central security to Srabanti Chatterjee, Payel Sarkar, Papiya Adhikari, Tanshree Chakraborty and Rudranil Ghosh.
The central BJP leadership had given an impression that the party would come to power with over 200 seats. These leaders started believing the statements of the central leaders and the IT cell of the party. Interestingly, all these candidates had taken the security in their election campaigns.
State BJP leaders said the security forces of most of the leaders had been withdrawn on May 10.
Those who wanted security after the date had written to the Union Home Ministry for its consideration. The security of Rudranil Ghosh is still continuing.
It was learnt that from June 1, all the security cover given to these leaders would be withdrawn.
The state BJP is in a tight spot after the central party wrote a letter asking it to furnish details of the expenditure that had been incurred during the polls.
Kailash Vijayvargiya said it was a routine practice, but state leaders did not take the matter well and said the central leadership was trying to make the state unit a scapegoat.