Thakur quits as state BJP chief, blames Sushil

The BJP’s Bihar unit president C.P. Thakur resigned on Friday, citing the allegedly arbitrary conduct of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi as reason.

The BJP’s Bihar unit president C.P. Thakur resigned on Friday, citing the allegedly arbitrary conduct of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi as reason.

HT Image

The move came as a jolt to the party weeks before the assembly elections.

“I was fed up with the way the BJP had been functioning in Bihar,” Thakur said. “Although I have been president, I didn’t get to know many of the decisions (regarding elections) that have been taken on behalf of the party.”

“Many tickets were given without my knowledge or consent,” he said.

Asked who had been taking such decisions on the party’s behalf, he said: “Sushil Modi and others.”

Thakur said there was no truth in the impression that he had resigned because his son Vivek was denied party nomination from the Digha and Bankipore assembly seats.

“The issue at hand is much larger. By conceding Digha – a quintessential BJP seat – to the JD(U) and without my knowledge or approval, the decision-makers have demoralised thousands of BJP workers across Bihar,” he said.

He said he was particularly perturbed at the manner in which the BJP’s core decision-making committee that he headed was either bypassed or its decisions were changed on the whims of a few.

The move came on the back of protests the party leadership has been facing over the selection of many of its nominees and the core BJP seats reportedly conceded to the party’s electoral ally, the JD-U.

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that talks were on with Thakur.

“Dr. C.P. Thakur is a veteran politician and a loyal member of the party. He is in talks with our party president and I am sure things will be sorted out,” Joshi said.

Other party leaders also expressed confidence that Thakur would take back his resignation.