Party's state unit being run by turncoats, old guards ignored: BJP leader writes to Nadda

kolkata: Hinting that all wasn't hunky dory in the state BJP unit—plagued by internal feuds—party leader and former BJP state secretary, Sayantan Basu, had written a letter to the party's president JP Nadda stating that the saffron party in Bengal was being run by Trinamool turncoats.

According to reports, Basu had alleged that between 2019 and 2021, several TMC leaders—who had jumped the ship to join BJP –were given safe seats in the saffron party, while its old guards were ignored.

Claiming that the BJP faced a massive defeat in the 2021 Assembly polls due to the 'incompetent' leadership, Basu had reportedly stated that the CPI(M) was cashing in on the current situation in the state.

He predicted that if situation continue in similar fashion, then the upcoming Panchayats election would turn out to be a two-way contest between the Left and the Trinamool with the BJP occupying a distant third.

He alleged that the state party had become a party of rebel Trinamool leaders. The BJP state leaders were unnecessarily criticising the Trinamool instead of improving the party's organisation, he added.

He also alleged that many Trinamool leaders had joined the party to save their backs.

"The state BJP unit will have to pay a very hefty price for this," he remarked.

BJP leaders, however, refused to give any importance to the letter. "There is democracy in our organisation and anyone is free to express his or her views," said Dilip Ghosh, national vice-president of the party.

Recently, two BJP leaders from Nandigram— Joydeb Das and Batakrishna Das—had resigned from the party, levelling similar allegations against the party's state unit. "Those, who had assaulted the BJP workers and leaders and forced many of them to leave the area once, had joined the saffron party before the 2021 Assembly election and are now giving instructions to the old timers," they had alleged.