Much like the Pradesh Congress there is turmoil in the Bengal State BJP too. As the leaders engage in passing the buck and blaming each other for the party’s defeat at the hands of the Trinamool Congress in the recently concluded parliamentary elections there are rumours that senior leaders like former State BJP president Dilip Ghosh are looking for “more honourable options.”
Ghosh who is credited with building the BJP’s organisation — almost from nothing — in Bengal which saw the saffron outfit climb to 18 seats in 2019 general elections up from two seats that it could manage in 2014 has recently dropped indications of quitting politics.
However he will not take a knee-jerk decision notwithstanding the alleged “humiliation” that he has been subjected to for the past several years, “particularly after he was removed from the post of State party chief and more particularly when he lost his place as a national vice president,” his close confidants say.
Known for calling spade a spade in public often to the chagrin and even embarrassment of others including the party mates Ghosh said a few days ago, “I am not taking any decision immediately … I will prefer to wait for some time … may be a few months to see how things shape up … and then I will decide … because you don’t take anything for final in politics and you don’t take decisions impromptu.” Ghosh apparently referred to the organisational revamp that is in the offing after present State president Sukanta Majumdar was promoted to the rank of a Union Minister post polls.
Primarily an RSS recruit Ghosh who was loaned by the Sangh to the BJP to build up the part is never known to have enjoyed good relationship with Majumdar and Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari both of whom came from the TMC. He was replaced by Sukanta Majumdar as state unit chief in 2021 almost at a time when Adhikari, then a powerful minister in Mamata Banerjee cabinet quit TMC to join the saffron outfit.
A ‘cadre’ to the hilt and a ‘man of the masses’, Ghosh who is travelling districts to gauge the public mood earlier complained how he was not given organisational programmes for the past several years.
“I have not been given organisational programmed … nor I was called to meetings … I was an MP and was on my own … so I think if there is no work for me, it means the party doesn’t need me anymore. There is no point in hanging around,” he said.
Regarded the crafter of the BJP in Bengal, Ghosh is also not happy with the way some other State leaders like Raju Banerjee and others have been dealt with, insiders say.
Ghosh holds the present State leadership for his defeat at the hustings. “I was an MLA and an MP from Midnapore which is my home turf … I was shifted for nothing from that area to Durgapur … what happened as a result the Midnapore seat was lost … same thing was done to Debashree Chowdhury who was shifted from Raiganj to South Kolkata,” Ghosh said holding the “back-biting in the party responsible for the poor performance in the parliamentary elections.”
Ghosh however is non-committal about his joining the TMC or for that matter the Congress. “I have been brought up in the RSS … have no financial interests or any craving for any post … I am a free bird as I am not a people’s representative now … I love to be with the people and will continue to work for them,” he says.
When asked about Ghosh’s politics or the politics around Ghosh, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “one should not talk about other parties … but it is true that a leader of his stature and qualities should find respect everywhere … he deserves a better dealing.”