Posters accusing Jitendra Tiwari of buying women voters for Rs 2K surface in Asansol

KOLKATA: Ahead of civic polls when BJP is grappling with internal feud, posters leveling corruption charges against BJP leader and former Mayor Jitendra Tiwari have surfaced in Asansol. These posters bear messages alleging that Tiwari has been giving money to the women voters in Asansol, which will witness the civic polls on February 12.

Posters have been put up in ward 27 of Asansol Municipal Corporation. It has been alleged that Tiwari has given Rs 2000 to local women, urging them to vote for BJP. Tiwari had shifted to BJP from Trinamool Congress (TMC) before the 2021 Assembly election. Dilip Ghosh, party's national vice-president, said the state leadership was looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, infighting in BJP's Bankura district unit widened as the dissident leaders organised a picnic on Thursday. The MLAs of Bankura, Onda and Sonamukhi, namely Niladri Dana, Amarnath Sakha and Dibakar Gharami, joined the picnic. Jiban Mondol, president of Chatna (number 1 Mondol) also joined the disgruntled leaders.

Dana and Sakha had earlier written letters to Amit Shah, union Home minister and JP Nadda, saffron party's all-India president and sought their intervention to address the infighting issues in Bankura over the appointment of the organising president. They also demanded removal of Bankura district president Sunil Mondol, the party's MP.

Infighting in BJP's Bishpur unit has also come to the fore as the dissidents demanded removal of the organising president.

Political experts said it was very significant that at a time when the state BJP unit was facing infighting issues, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee had said on Monday six or seven BJP MLAs had expressed willingness to join Trinamool and they would be inducted if they want to work for the state's development.

Plagued by infighting and exodus, the Bengal BJP, which is still licking its wounds after the Assembly poll defeat, is staring at bleak prospects in the state as senior leaders engage in feud off and on social media, leaving little time for the party's growth. Churnings in the Bengal BJP had started after the recent organisational revamp, with several senior leaders and party legislators openly criticising the top brass.

Leading from the front is prominent Matua leader and union minister Shantanu Thakur who recently quit the WhatsApp groups of the party. Nine BJP MLAs from the community exited BJP legislators' Whatsapp group in the last one month. The saffron party had also suspended two of its leaders, Jay Prakash Mazumdar and Ritesh Tiwari, recently.