Shantanu Thakur: Will concentrate in party work if demands are met

Kolkata: Upset with Bengal BJP, party MP Shantanu Thakur and some other leaders have sought more representation of the Matua community in the state unit of BJP.

Thakur who is the Union Minister of state for Shipping decided to put forth some demands before the party and said that he will concentrate on party activities only if these demands were fulfilled.

Thakur had exited the West Bengal BJP WhatsApp group on January 3, and held a meeting with five other party MLAs, at his residence on Tuesday evening.

The major demand is that there should be one Matua representative as vice-president of the Bengal BJP. Other demands include that the party must change Bongaon and Nadia (South) presidents as well as the Nabadwip observer.

The five BJP MLAs who quit the official WhatsApp group of the party's legislature—Asim Sarkar (Haringhata MLA in Nadia), Ambika Roy (Kalyani MLA in Nadia), Subrata Thakur (Gaighata MLA in North 24-Parganas), Mukut Mani Adhikari (Ranaghat South MLA in Nadia) and Ashok Kirtaniya (Bongaon North MLA in North 24-Parganas district).

Thakur, who happens to be the joint president of the All India Matua Mahasangha, has also been missing from the BJP

meetings recently.