Mandal president accused of assaulting fellow BJP worker
Alipurduar: Yet another case of BJP infighting has come to the fore where Chandrasekhar Sinha, president of the Falakata Town Mandal of the BJP, has been accused of assaulting a fellow BJP worker who blamed Falakata’s MLA for BJP’s poor electoral performance in the district by posting it on social media.
Samir Baidya, the assaulted, who is a member of the BJP’s social media cell of the SC Morcha, filed a written complaint against the Mandal president at the Falakata Police Station.
In recent times, the BJP’s electoral performance has not been too good in the region with the party losing the Falakata Municipal and the Panchayat elections. This has resulted in discontent among grassroots BJP workers allegedly against BJP Falakata MLA Deepak Barman. However, the anger became more evident on social media after the BJP’s loss in the Dhupguri by-election on Friday.
A man named Samir Baidya, claiming to be a member of the BJP’s SC Morcha social media cell, openly wrote on social media: “Wherever Deepak is, BJP’s fortunes seem to dim. This is evident in the Dhupguri Assembly by-election as well as the past Panchayat and municipal elections. I urge the state BJP to reconsider these leadership choices.”
This was followed by Baidya’s allegation before mediapersons: “I was attacked by the BJP president of the Falakata Town Mandal, Chandrasekhar Sinha, soon after I made the post public. They took away Rs 15,000 and a gold chain from me.”
Baidya claimed: “I have been associated with the BJP since 2016. However, ever since Deepak Barman became MLA, he has been negatively impacting the party. That’s why I was compelled to speak out.”
On August 8, a similar episode of BJP infighting occurred in a public place when Alok Chakraborty, the former district vice-president was physically assaulted by Bapi Goswami, the BJP district president, and Polen Ghosh, the president of the district Yuva Morcha from BJP candidates nomination filing rally in Dhupguri.
Chandrasekhar Sinha, BJP president of the Falakata Town Mandal, countered: “The party has had no association with Samir Baidya since 2021. He doesn’t hold any official position within the party. There were no incidents of assault or theft. Trinamool is attempting to undermine our party by conspiring and bribing former BJP members this way.”
