Leadership fissures in BJP Bengal come to fore

Dissident voices are springing up from inside Bengal BJP's different quarters and leadership fissures are coming to the fore after the saffron party failed to match its 2019 performance in the state in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

The party has suffered an erosion in its cadres also with 10 BJP panchayat members including the deputy panchayat head in Bhetaguri in Coochbehar joining Trinamool Congress on Friday.



Former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh has questioned faulty strategies and claimed there was an attempt to defeat the seats won in 2019 by shifting winners to "defeated" seats that were vulnerable. "In potential 'winning' seats, leaders were sent to defeat them and vice-versa," Ghosh alleged, hinting at his old constituency Medinipur from where he won in 2019.


BJP's new candidate Agnimitra Paul lost from Medinipur while Ghosh lost from his new constituency Bardha . MLA Niladri Sekhar Dana stood by Ghosh and said, "At least 18 seats were fought and won under the leadership of Dilip Ghosh in 2019. I became MLA under his guidance. He is like Himalaya... We have to learn from our mistakes and move ahead," he said. Locket Chatterjee, former MP from Hooghly who lost her seat to Trinamool's Rachna Banerjee, said, "Time has come for self-analysis. Booth-wise analysis is necessary. We will discuss it with central leadership."