E-Paper
Told BJP chief everything, says Bengal unit’s Dilip Ghosh on Babul Supriyo, Khan
Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said he has apprised JP Nadda of the different opinions aired in public and how state leaders spoke without thinking. This dampens the morale of the party workers and should be stopped.
Kolkata: Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh on Monday briefed party chief JP Nadda about the political situation in the state and brought charges of indiscipline against at least two Lok Sabha members from the state, people familiar with the matter said.
Leaders aware of the discussions at Nadda’s residence in New Delhi said Ghosh complained that last week former union minister Babul Supriyo and state Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Saumitra Khan made some objectionable remarks on social media.
“I have told the national president everything. Certain things are supposed to be discussed inside the party and not in public. The BJP’s disciplinary action committee will look into this,” Ghosh told the media in Delhi when specifically asked about Supriyo and Khan. He did not take any name.
Incidentally, the two leaders made the statements after the reshuffle in union ministries on July 7 when four Lok Sabha members from Bengal became ministers of state and two junior ministers, Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri, resigned. The new appointments were seen in political circles as a reward for those who represent regions where the BJP did well in the state elections.
Chaudhuri, the MP from north Bengal’s Raiganj, did not react to her resignation but Supriyo, the MP from Asanol in West Burdwan who unsuccessfully contested the Tollygunge assembly seat in Kolkata in the recent polls, put out a tweet that indicated he wasn’t going on his own.
Supriyo initially tweeted that he was made to resign but when this immediately triggered a controversy, he changed his stance. “Yes, I have resigned from the Council Of Ministers. As I had framed it earlier, “Asked to resign” may not be the right way to put it. I thank Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi for giving me the privilege to serve my country as a Member of his Council of Ministers..” Supriyo said.
“I am extremely happy that I go today without a spot of corruption on me, having served my constituency with all my might & having enjoyed their confidence when Asansol voted me back as their MP once again, with triple the Margin in 2019,” he said in a second tweet.
Khan, a two-time MP from Bishnurpur in Bankura district who left the TMC before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and retained the seat on a BJP ticket, did not comment on the cabinet reshuffle but attacked Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly who switched over from the Trinamool Congress and defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections by around 1,900 votes.
“The leader of the opposition is constantly visiting Delhi and trying to convince our national leaders that he is the one doing everything for the party. He is only projecting himself. Have the others not contributed to the BJP’s growth? I raised this before the state president. He understands a few things but doesn’t seem to understand the rest,” Khan said in a video message shared on social media.
He also resigned from the BJYM saying, “I take responsibility for the party’s loss in the assembly polls” but without hours, withdrew his offer to resign.
Ghosh had earlier described Khan’s statement as a breach of discipline. Supriyo and Khan did not react to Monday’s development till late evening.
