Dilip Ghosh replaced as BJP’s Bengal chief, Majumdar takes over
THE RESHUFFLE ENDS MONTHS OF SPECULATIONS FUELLED BY GHOSH’S DIFFERENCES WITH MANY BJP LEADERS
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday replaced Dilip Ghosh with Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar as the party’s West Bengal unit chief , months after a bruising poll loss and amid a stream of high-profile defections to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.
Ghosh, the firebrand Medinipur MP who served as the state unit chief for six years, was named national vice-president of the BJP. Former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya, who stepped down earlier this month, was also appointed national vice-president of the party. “The BJP is a big family and there can be some differences among its members. I am confident that those who in the BJP for ideological reasons will not leave. I apologise to our workers who might have felt neglected,” said Majumdar shortly after the announcement.
The reshuffle — which comes into effect immediately — ends months of speculations fuelled by Ghosh’s differences with several state BJP leaders, including youth wing president Saumitra Khan, who even threatened to quit last year after Ghosh withheld appointments made by him.
“The central leadership did what it thought was right. I had a long discussion with J P Nadda over several issues. As a worker of the party I will follow the new state president,” said Ghosh.
The change in leadership in Bengal comes when the party is wrangling with infighting in the state unit and embarrassment at the defection of senior leaders to the TMC, including former party vice-president Mukul Roy and Asansol MP Babul Supriyo.
The move also underlines the BJP’s continued focus on north Bengal, a region it dominates and won 30 of the 54 assembly seats in the April-May state polls. Majumdar was one of the party’s seven MPs from the region who won in 2019 and is considered a non-controversial, soft-spoken leader.
State leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari congratulated both Ghosh and Majumdar. “…I wish them very best and believe that both would give their best to strengthen the party.”
During Ghosh’s tenure, the BJP grew from a side player to the main opposition party in Bengal, winning an unprecedented 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 – its best-ever performance. The party hoped to topple the TMC in assembly elections earlier this year, but was roundly defeated, winning just 77 seats to the TMC’s 213.