The disarray in the Bengal BJP came out in the open once again on Wednesday and ended with the expulsion of the party’s Howrah Sadar district president Surajit Saha, the fissures getting exposed a little over a month before civic polls to the Howrah and Calcutta Municipal Corporations are likely to be held. The state election commission and the Bengal government have agreed on holding the polls to both the civic bodies on December 19. An official communique in the matter is still pending.
Though the state BJP has knocked the doors of the Calcutta High Court seeking polling at all the 118 municipalities and seven municipal corporations in the state, preparations for the elections are underway. Saha’s anger was directed at the leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikary who had on Tuesday during an internal meeting accused a section of the BJP in Howrah of being in cahoots with the Trinamul minister from Howrah, Arup Roy.
The feud below up after a committee was set up under former mayor Rathin Chakraborty for the civic polls, which upset the Saha faction. When Suvendu made the remark, many of the senior state leaders were present and none of them charged at the leader of Opposition, who is still seen as an outsider by most of the BJP cadre in Bengal.
The BJP which had attracted a large number of Trinamul faces including ministers and legislators like Rajib Banerjee and Vaishali Dalmia before the polls, ended up with a severe drubbing. Rajib has already returned to the Trinamul fold. Saha, claimed on Wednesday, Suvendu’s leaving the BJP was also a matter of time. “See I have been with the BJP for 28 years. Neither me nor any other BJP leader from Howrah was not caught on TV camera accepting bribe. First Suvendu should prove his honesty before raising fingers at others,” said Saha. Suvendu’s name was involved in the Narada bribery case, where television footage of a person resembling him was caught on camera accepting bribe from journalist Mathew Samuels, who had conducted the sting operation in 2014.
While two Trinamul ministers including Subrata Mukherjee, who passed away last week, an MLA and a former Calcutta mayor were arrested in connection with the case in May, soon after the Assembly poll results, the central probe agency CBI did not take any action against Suvendu. Following his win in the Assembly election from Nandigram where he defeated the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu’s stocks have been running high in the party. He was made the leader of Opposition, which was guaranteed to rankle Mamata. “We have not hopped from one party to another. He has been with the Congress, the Trinamul and now the BJP. If he says, Howrah BJP leaders are working in connivance with Arup Roy, he should provide evidence for that instead of making accusations,” said Saha.
He said the people of Bengal had rejected the BJP as it had turned into a B-team of the Trinamul. “Candidates for the Assembly polls (in the 16 Assembly seats in Howrah) were decided by Suvendu and Rajib. If the party’s central and state leaders have not learned the lesson even after the Assembly polls debacle, they will be rejected again (by the people),” said Saha.
Calling the committee led by Chakraborty as the B-team of the Trinamul, Saha said he would not work with them whatever be the consequences. “The decision was taken by the party and has to be observed by all. Ours is a disciplined party,” said Dilip Ghosh, former state president of the BJP. Suvendu was not available for comment.