JP Nadda to visit Bengal in June amid desertions, infighting in state BJP

The BJP national president’s focus will be on holding on to the number of party MPs and MLAs in the state ahead of the Presidential election, sources said.

Party national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, “Nadda ji had said that he will come to Bengal in June. This is mainly a tour to strengthen the party organisation.” In an attempt to strengthen the party’s booth-level organisational set-up, Dilip Ghosh has been given the responsibility to monitor the situation in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Odisha, Tripura and Andaman and Nicobar Island. He was asked to do so by Nadda after an internal party meeting in Delhi.

Sources said the decision was aimed at engaging Ghosh in other states while leaving the task of managing the party affairs in Bengal to the new state leadership under Sukanta Majumdar.

Majumdar, an MP, was made the state unit president in September last year while Ghosh was elevated to the post of national vice-president.

When contacted, Majumdar said, “Ghosh is a leader from Bengal and is credited for building the party organisation here. He is now given the responsibility to work outside Bengal. This is quite normal.” Ghosh had criticised the new state leadership over “lack of experience”.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari held an organisational meeting in Barrackpore to restructure the party in the wake of MP Arjun Singh leaving the party. Adhikari was made in-charge of the party’s Barrackpore district unit.