Posters targeting Soumen Roy, the BJP MLA of Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district, were put in the town and the surrounding areas on Thursday.
The posters, which were spotted near a local college and at Tarangapur market, carry the BJP party symbol and says “courtesy: BJP workers” at the bottom. It call the sitting MLA an “outsider” and carry slogans like “Remove traitor Soumen Roy, save BJP”.
The BJP’s decision to field Soumen Roy from Kaliaganj for the 2021 Assembly elections, despite him being perceived as an outsider, had sparked protests within the party’s local ranks. However, the party retained him as a nominee and he won the seat.
Within a few months of becoming an MLA, Roy defected to the Trinamool, intensifying the resentment against him. He did not formally resign from the BJP, like some other BJP MLAs who have joined Trinamool.
He was reportedly seldom seen participating in political programmes in the constituency in the following three years.
Roy rejoined the BJP 2024 before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He continued to face protests while campaigning with Kartik Pal, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Raiganj, who is the current MP.
This is not the first time Roy has been targeted through posters. The CPM had put up “missing” posters with his picture across the town in December 2025, questioning his absence from the constituency.
Responding to the controversy, Roy said: “These banners have been put up in the dead of night by Trinamool before the elections to mislead our party supporters and the public. People will give a fitting reply to them in the polls.”
Trinamool leaders said the posters were the result of internal conflict within the BJP.