'Post war of words' BJP youth leader dies at party's headquarter in city

Kolkata: A Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader died as he fell ill after a heated exchange of words among a section of leaders of the saffron camp during a meeting at the party's Hasting's party office on Monday.

According to the sources, leaders of BJYM were holding a meeting with party leaders of three districts at Hasting's party office. The deceased BJYM leader, Raju Sarkar, also attended the meeting.

Sources said that the heated exchange of words ensued following a dispute over getting diaries. Amidst tension, Raju started feeling unwell. As a result he left the meeting. After a few minutes he climbed the stairs to reach to the third floor to once again attend the meeting. He fell ill on the staircase itself when he came out of the meeting for the second time.

He was first taken to SSKM Hospital. But he could not be admitted at the hospital and subsequently taken to a private hospital off EM Bypass where he was declared brought dead.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, who is in Delhi at present, said: "There was no report of any trouble or tension in the meeting. There was a little exchange of words. He died due to cardiac arrest".

Raju was heavily built and suffering from high blood pressure. A section of BJP leaders feel that he fell ill as he might have got exhausted after climbing stairs up to the fourth floor. He was earlier close to Mukul Roy before the latter joined Trinamool Congress and now he was known to be to senior BJP leader Pratap Bandyopadhyay.

BJP leaders including Pratap Bandyopadhyay, Soumitra Khan and Joyprakash Majumdar went to the hospital after receiving news of Raju's death.