Calcutta, March 23: State BJP president Rahul Sinha today conceded that "organisational shortcomings" had led to dissent over selection of candidates for next month's civic polls, a day after the party's Birbhum president Dudh Kumar Mondal resigned over the choice of local nominees.

"We are finding it difficult to give time to consolidate the organisation because elections are being held one after the other. Besides, a huge number of people are joining the party every day.... We cannot deny that there are organisational shortcomings," Sinha said this afternoon.

Although Sinha had yesterday declined any knowledge of Mondal's resignation from the party post, the state BJP chief today said he had received a letter from the Birbhum leader conveying his decision to quit.

Almost all top state BJP leaders, including Sinha, remained busy through the day, discussing how to defuse the Birbhum crisis.

Sources said the leaders were unanimous that Mondal's resignation would not be accepted even if that meant giving in to his demands.

"Mondal's main grouse is that genuine party activists who were recommended by him as nominees for the civic bodies in Birbhum, Suri, Rampurhat, Bolpur and Sainthia have been denied nominations," said a state BJP secretary.

"We may have to eventually accept his recommendations because Mondal has proved his effectiveness to the party," he added.

Some RSS leaders, particularly Amal Chatterjee, who is the general secretary in-charge of the organisation, were learnt to have put his weight behind Mondal, who cut his teeth into politics as a Sangh Parivar activist.

Mondal had called on Chatterjee on Saturday to complain about "dirty politics" being played in his home district.

The Birbhum BJP leader stood by his decision today. "I won't succumb to pressure because I don't believe in politics of lobbies. Genuine party workers have to be nominated."

He blamed the party's observer for Birbhum, Ramakrishna Pal, for the crisis. "Pal (who hails from Hooghly) is wielding his clout as the party observer. He is insisting on nominating some outsiders."

Pal could not be reached for a comment. The BJP is yet to announce its nominees in Birbhum, a district where the party has witnessed a considerable rise in its members.

The BJP has faced a series of protests in the past week over selection of nominees.

Several party workers had gathered outside the BJP's central Calcutta headquarters last week, protesting the list of nominees for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation polls. The party had to change its candidates for at least six wards in the city.

Dissent was also witnessed over the choice of candidates in Kharagpur, Maheshtala in South 24-Parganas, Behrampore and Siliguri.

State BJP vice-president Prabhakar Tewari was today gheraoed for over an hour at the party headquarters by activists demanding replacement of some candidates.

Sidharth Nath Singh, the BJP's Bengal minder, had in a meeting last week expressed "unhappiness" over the state of affairs in the party.