A group of BJP workers from Hooghly district on Tuesday agitated at the party’s Salt Lake office, demanding the replacement of Sumana Sarkar with someone from the old guard as the Balagarh candidate.
The protest took place on a day when BJP national president Nitin Nabin was holding a series of meetings at a private hotel in New Town, barely 9km away.
The agitation added to the alleged dissatisfaction within the BJP with the nomination of candidates in several constituencies.
BJP workers from Balagarh alleged that Sarkar had been inducted from the Trinamool Congress, and her associates had tortured BJP activists.
“We can’t accept Sumana Sarkar as the BJP candidate because she, along with Trinamool goons, had put our workers at gunpoint, tortured us and vandalised our houses. We want her to be replaced as soon as possible,” said Rina Pramanik, a BJP secretary in Hooghly who led the protest.
Nearly 60 BJP workers sat in front of the entrance to the state office and staged the protest when Sarkar was attending a meeting with Nabin at the New Town hotel.
After more than three hours of the protest, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya reached the party office and spoke to the agitators. However, the issue remained unresolved till Tuesday evening.
A BJP source said that if the party changed one candidate following such agitation, similar demands might arise and become unending.
“It was not an agitation. It is not right to say that the Balagarh candidate was inducted from Trinamool and immediately given a party ticket,” said Bhattacharya.
The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said: “Such issues prove that the BJP is coming to power. That is why everyone wants to become a BJP candidate.”
Nabin meetings
Nabin, who reached Calcutta on Tuesday morning, will hold several organisational meetings on Wednesday, including one at the BJP’s state office in Salt Lake. He had come for a two-day visit to review the BJP’s poll preparedness.
The BJP had already announced the names of 256 candidates in two phases. The announcement of candidates is pending for 38 seats. A source said the list with the rest of the candidates’ names would be published on Wednesday or Thursday.
Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Bengal on March 28 to unveil the BJP manifesto or Sankalp Patra for the Bengal Assembly polls.