Disquiet is brewing within the four walls of the BJP’s Bengal headquarters in Calcutta as a section of old-timers is unhappy with the inclusion of Trinamul Congress turncoats in the reconstituted state committee and some posts in organisational wings.

“Our national leaders want us to face the Assembly polls under the leadership of some people who don’t even align with our ideologies and it’s sad,” a BJP source told The Telegraph.

According to him, several old-timers in the party have started expressing their discontent openly in the BJP state headquarters at 6, Muralidhar Sen Lane, Calcutta, after a virtual meeting of Union home minister Amit Shah.

“Till the meeting, everyone was busy with its preparations. After that is over, the discontent is evident,” the source said.

Some sources in the BJP to whom this correspondent spoke said the growing importance of turncoats like Mukul Roy, who was the inaugural speaker at Shah’s virtual rally, bore hints that the central leaders had made up their mind to use defections from other parties as a tool to expand the BJP’s organisational capabilities in Bengal.

“The inclusion of several Trinamul turncoats in the state committee is just the beginning and the trend is really disturbing for us as we hear that more leaders from other parties are likely to join the BJP,” said a source.

Sabyasachi Dutta, Saumitra Khan and Arjun Singh — turncoats from Trinamul — have been included in the recently formed state committee. Khagen Murmu and Dulal Bor, who had switched over from the CPM and the Congress, respectively, were also nominated to the committee.

“Dutta has not spent even a few months in the BJP. But he has been made one of the 10 secretaries of the BJP in the state because of his proximity to Mukul Roy. Did he in any way contribute to the party?” asked a senior BJP leader.

A similar sense of betrayal is affecting some others who are unhappy with the recent changes in the state committee and handling of the party’s organisation. The fact that all is not well in the BJP came out in the open at a recently held organisational meeting where Kishor Burman, one of the two joint general secretaries of the party’s organisation, alleged that some leaders were not doing what they were supposed to.

“Kishor was very upset and he categorically said the party’s affairs in the north Bengal zone were not properly handled by the headquarters,” said a BJP insider.

Raju Banerjee, currently a vice-president in the new state committee, was in charge of north Bengal. Though Burman didn’t name anyone, it was clear that his attacks were targeted at Banerjee and Subrata Chatterjee, general secretary (organisation).

A section of the leaders is unhappy with Chatterjee for his handling of the party’s affairs and they are making their discontent known.

The sources said Banerjee, on the other hand, was sulking because he felt that he was kicked upstairs from the post of general secretary, which is considered more powerful in the BJP’s scheme of things.

Questions are being raised about the handling of the mass organisations and a case in point is that Mahadeb Sarkar has been appointed as the new president of the Kisan Morcha, the party’s farmers’ wing, replacing Ramkrishna Pal.

State president Dilip Ghosh announced the names of the new office-bearers on June 1. According to a member of the Kisan Morcha, they met Ghosh over a video conference on the same day where he congratulated the members “on the good work” they were doing. “Within three hours, a new president was appointed. If we were doing good work under Ramkrishna Pal, what was the need to remove him?” this person asked.

Ghosh, the party’s state president, said anyone with potential would be used by the party. “The leaders who have joined us from other parties have been public representatives for multiple times. We intend to use their popularity during the polls,” he said.

For long, the general belief among a section of BJP workers has been that former Trinamul members have joined the party for political gains or as protection from central agencies that are investigating multiple corruption cases, especially the chit fund scam. “Till a few months ago, the unwritten code was that turncoats would be inducted into the party, but the control would be with old-timers. That seems to be changing, which is worrying,” said a source.