Infighting between Bengal's BJP & RSS camps rears head ahead of by-election

Kolkata: The infighting between the Bengal units of RSS and BJP came out in the open, with the former refusing to accept the candidate nominated by the latter

for the Kharagpur Assembly seat in the forthcoming by-election.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh had defeated Gyan Singh Sohanpal of Congress in the 2016 Assembly election, by 5,500 votes. Sohanpal was an MLA from the Kharagpur Sadar seat for over four decades. After Ghosh's victory, BJP consolidated its position in the constituency.

Ghosh has proposed the name of Prem Chanda Jha as the candidate for the forthcoming by-election. However, both state RSS and old BJP workers have vehemently opposed the move and refused to accept him as the candidate.

Meanwhile, RSS has proposed the name of a retired IIT teacher as the candidate. However, the Central BJP is yet to take any decision regarding the matter. The election will be held on November 25.

On the other hand, Pradip Pattanaik, a veteran BJP leader, has proposed to fight the election as an Independent Candidate from the seat.

Local BJP leaders said that though the decision of the party leaders in Delhi is final in selecting a candidate for the by-election, most of the party workers will not work if Jha is nominated as the candidate.

Trinamool Congress has fielded Pradip Sarkar while the Congress nominee for the seat is Chittaranjan Mondol.

Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee has urged party leaders and workers to work together to ensure victory of the party nominee in the Kharagpur Sadar seat.