Rebel member made dist prez, BJP workers clash outside Salt Lake party office

Kolkata: The tension inside the BJP’s state unit has reached the breaking point as a ruckus unfolded outside the party’s headquarters at Salt Lake on Tuesday as the members of its Mathurapur district organisation staged an agitation over appointing a rebel party member as the district president.

Protesters had almost laid siege to the BJP headquarters at Salt Lake, demanding to speak with the top rung leaders.

Effigies were burnt outside the BJP headquarters. All of them are members of the party’s district organisation at Mathurapur, South 24-Parganas. Their bone of contention, as learnt, was making a rebel candidate the district president.

The protestors complained that Nabendu Sundar Naskar, who stood as an Independent candidate against the party in the recently concluded rural elections, was made the district president. He had contested for a seat in the Panchayat Samiti at Kulpi.

The new appointment came to light when the BJP published its list of new district presidents on Sunday. No sooner than it was published, the BJP workers of the district began to protest against the decision. Sources said that the agitation was not just limited to workers but a section of BJP top rung leaders in the state are also unhappy with the decision but have not expressed it openly unlike the members of the lower rung.

On Tuesday, the party workers burnt effigy of Naskar while internal feuds have also begun. Protestors staged a sit-in protest outside the Salt Lake headquarters which soon escalated into a scuffle. Most questioned how could the party, instead of taking action against Naskar for openly defying the party line, be rewarded with the position of district president. They also said this will further encourage other party workers to replicate the same if the matter is not taken care of immediately.

Reacting to the situation, TMC tweeted: “Hooliganism runs in the blood of BJP! After unleashing a reign of terror during the Panchayat elections, BJP West Bengal goons have now resorted to infighting. A squabble broke out between BJP workers at the BJP party office in Salt Lake today regarding the appointment of District President. Reflection of a hollow foundation and misplaced priorities?”

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh remarked that the BJP is a party of clowns and that internal feuds are nothing uncommon in the saffron brigade. “The fight has always been between the new BJP and old BJP” he alleged.