Internal feud hits Bengal BJP, union minister Thakur seeks removal of state gen secy

Internal feud in the West Bengal unit of BJP has aggravated further, with rebel leaders of the party in the state led by the party Lok Sabha member and Union minister of shipping, Shantanu Thakur, demanding immediate removal of the party's state general secretary, Amitava Chakrabarty, without naming the latter

Kolkata:Internal feud in the West Bengal unit of BJP has aggravated further, with rebel leaders of the party in the state led by the party Lok Sabha member and Union minister of shipping, Shantanu Thakur, demanding immediate removal of the party's state general secretary Amitava Chakrabarty, without naming the latter.

"There is a leader in the state party who is absolutely clueless of how to run the organisational network. He is trying to establish his monopoly. That is why the new committee has been formed after excluding the experienced and senior leaders. This is a conspiracy by the ruling party in the state. I am calling the attention of our leadership now," Thakur said, after emerging from the meeting with rebel leaders of state BJP at a guest house in South Kolkata on Saturday afternoon.

According to him, those in the new state committee do not have any honest intentions.

"They are trying to mislead people in order to establish a monopoly. It seems that they have some links with other parties. We want to foil that attempt. Almost 90% of those who played a key role in increasing BJP's vote share in West Bengal from 2% to 40% were removed from the state committee", Thakur added.

He said that this tendency was harmful for the prospects of BJP in West Bengal. "Today's meeting was convened to prepare the blueprint on how to weed out these evil elements. Not a single leader from the Matua community was offered a berth in the new committee. The leaders of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities too were neglected. The experienced leaders were left out. Currently, the central leadership is busy with the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Probably that is why such things escaped their surveillance," Thakur said.

He also said that their only aim is to strengthen the position of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. "The central leadership was given wrong information while forming the new committee. We can foresee tough days ahead for BJP," he said.