New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been grappling with internal dissensions for quite some time and some of the party leaders in Bengal bringing issues of differences or internal squabbles to the forefront. Now, it was being speculated that Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent visit to Bengal was to put the house in order.
Annoyed with the internal squabbling in the Bengal unit of the saffron party, BJP's central leadership has chalked out a strategy to contain dissensions. BJP top leaders were brainstorming over containing the unrest in the Bengal unit of the party. Talking to ETV Bharat, Bengal BJP leader Anupam Hazra said, "The party functions in a democratic way. Everybody put forward their grievances to the Central leadership. I have also expressed the same to the party's top-rung leadership."
The saffron party, which fared well and became the main opposition has now been struggling to keep its flock together in Bengal. In the 2021 Bengal assembly polls, the BJP clinched 77 seats and its vote share also increased to 38.9 per cent. But, just after one year, the BJP's performance in the local bodies election had nosedived. Several of its leaders belonging to the Bengal unit started leaving the party one by one. The saffron party received a big jolt when BJP's Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh joined Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Read:Amit Shah forms inquiry committee to monitor Bengal MLAs, MPs
Last month, Amit Shah was on a Bengal tour to assuage the feelings of disgruntled members of the Bengal unit of the BJP. To give a boost to the sagging morale of party workers and its leaders in Bengal, Amit Shah advised them not to bring the matter into the public domain or before the media. Shah while having one on one sessions with Bengal party leaders, urged them to stop internal bickerings. The Bengal party leaders were also told that they would be given proper respect and a place at the party forum to redress their grievances or put their views.
But, just after Amit Shah left Bengal, the party received a shocker. BJP's Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh parted ways and joined TMC. It was being stated that for the past several months, Arjun Singh was urging the Union government to bring down the price of jute because his Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency has several jute factories. But, the Union government didn't pay heed to Arjun Singh's request.
Arjun Singh was one of the most powerful and firebrand leaders in Bengal. Arjun Singh from his home turf Barrackpore constituency gave an open challenge to TMC during the Lok Sabha elections. Arjun Singh and his MLA son were attacked by TMC goons on several occasions. Though, they luckily escaped unhurt. After BJP's defeat in the Bengal assembly elections, leaders such as Mukul Roy and Babul Supriyo left the saffron party to again join the TMC. According to party sources, the differences between Dilip Ghosh and Anupam Hazra have also come to the fore.
