Sukanta Majumdar replaces Dilip Ghosh as state BJP prez

Kolkata: BJP on Monday removed Dilip Ghosh as the party's state unit chief amid a string of switchovers to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The 57-year-old has been made a national vice-president of the party in a wider reorganisation of its leadership. Party MP Sukanta Majumdar has been asked to take over as the Bengal unit boss.

After becoming the state president, Majumdar said his primary duty will be to strengthen the party at the grassroots level.

Commenting on the MPs and MLAs leaving the party to join TMC, he said: "BJP is a national party and does not depend on a few leaders. In 2024, BJP will get more seats in Bengal."

No less than four MLAs and an MP have left the party for the Trinamool since the May election results that were a major upset for the BJP.

Majumdar, who is an MP from Balurghat in North Bengal, said the state unit believes that Bengal is "one and undivided" while commenting on the statement made by some BJP leaders in North Bengal that it should be a separate state.

Party leaders said it was a routine change as Ghosh had completed six years as the president. The national leadership had waited for the Assembly election in Bengal.

Ghosh joined the RSS in 1984 and became a 'pracharak'. From 1999-2007, he worked in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a 'pracharak'. In 2014, he was made the general secretary of NJP's state unit and in 2015 he became the president. He defeated Gyan Singh Sohanpal of Congress in 2016 Assembly election from the Kharagpur Sadar seat. He resigned as an MLA and contested in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and won. Under his leadership, BJP got 77 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections from three seats in 2016. Ghosh is famous for making controversial statements. His distance with Suvendu Adhikari increased after the latter became the Leader of Opposition.