Patna, Feb. 17: The infighting in the BJP’S Bihar unit intensified today with newly elected state party chief Mangal Pandey and his predecessor C.P. Thakur taking potshots at each other over the formation of its executive committee.

After remaining silent and avoiding the media for six days, Pandey said the new office-bearers of the BJP’s state executive committee and the working committee m embers were appointed following approval of the party’s central leadership, including (party) president Rajnath Singh and Bihar in-charge Ananth Kumar.

Pandey claimed that he had tried to contact Thakur “several times” for consultation. “On the appointment of the new state party office bearers and the working committee members, I had tried to consult the former state BJP president several times. Between February 7 and 9, I made eight phone calls to Thakur. But each time I was told that he was busy. I waited for two days before announcing the new list on February 11,” Pandey said.

Thakur, on the other hand, iterated that he was never consulted with on the issue and termed the formation of the committee a “unilateral decision” of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Pandey.

“At a meeting of senior BJP leaders on February 1 at the residence of public health and engineering minister Chandramohan Rai, it was decided that the new committee would be selected after consultation with senior leaders. But their views were ignored,” Thakur told The Telegraph.

“I am not having any property dispute with Pandey or Modi. Let there be discussions on all the issues,” he added.