6 BJP MPs give party's 'Chintan Shivir' a miss

kolkata: The infighting in the state BJP has once again come out in the open with six-party MPs, including three ministers, not attending its 'Chintan Shivir' in Rajarhat.

The state BJP is conducting a three-day Chintan Shivir at a five-star resort from August 29 to 31. The two-night three-day camp has been held to discuss the plans which will be followed in the Panchayat election scheduled to be held in 2023.

Party's national leaders like Amit Malviya and Sunil Bansal are attending the camp. The party had asked all its MPs and MLAs to attend the camp.Three MPs who are Union ministers—Shantanu Thakur, MP from Bongaon and Union minister of state for Shipping, Nisit Pramanick, MP from Cooch Behar, Union minister of state for Home, and John Barla, MP from Alipurduar who is the Union minister of state for Minority Affairs did not attend the meeting.

Three MPs, Raju Bista, MP from Darjeeling, SS Ahluwalia, MP from Bardhaman-Durgapur and Kumar Hembram, MP from Jhargram did not attend the camp either. The absence of the MPs visibly embarrassed the state leaders. Shantanu Thakur said he could not attend the camp because of his prior engagements in Gujarat. Interestingly, none of the MPs even bothered to inform the state leaders as to why they would not be able to attend the camp.The state leaders refused to comment on the matter.

Earlier, members of the 'Save Bengal BJP' group had written to party's national president JP Nadda, requesting him to shift the venue of the three-day training camp starting from August 29. The state BJP had fixed the venue at a star resort in Rajarhat.

Members of 'Save Bengal BJP' group in their letter to Nadda alleged that the party had not looked after the workers, who had been killed in post-poll violence. Under such a situation, holding a training camp at a star accommodation would give wrong signal to the party men.