After meeting with Shah, Dilip Ghosh re-enters BJP spotlight

Kolkata: Former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who was sidelined by his party, seems to be returning to active politics.

A day after he met Union Home minister Amit Shah, Ghosh subtly mocked Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday without taking his name. Ghosh said he was “never shown black flags” by his party workers.

“None of the party workers showed me a black flag... many have joined our party from Trinamool Congress. They have done so in the past. I will not say if they did right or wrong. I don’t know if they will stay or quit our party,” Ghosh told the media. Earlier in the day, Ghosh held a meeting with state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya at the party’s Salt Lake office.

After the meeting, Ghosh, while talking to the media, announced that he will attend a public rally of the state president on January 13.

“I was always with my party. I will do everything that the party will ask me to do. If my party tells me to contest the Assembly elections, I am even ready for that. Not just the state president, whichever leader asks me to attend their rallies, I am ready for the same. But if we have to reach out to 294 constituencies, all leaders cannot be in one place always,” said Ghosh.

Notably, Ghosh was sidelined after he had attended the inauguration of Jagannath temple in Digha on April 30 and also met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Asked whether visiting the temple led to the crisis, on which he said: “I go for a morning walk at a place where I had heard Durga Angan will be set up. Then I heard that the venue has shifted due to some litigation. There are several temples and mosques... we need to address the needs of the common people.”

Ghosh is widely credited as the architect of the BJP’s organisational rise in Bengal. During his tenure as state president, the party expanded and emerged as the main challenger to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Meanwhile, it was learnt that Union Health minister and national BJP president JP Nadda is scheduled to visit Kolkata to attend a programme organised by the doctors. Sources said that state BJP president Bhattacharya had sought a closed-door meeting of Nadda with state BJP leaders.