KOLKATA: Newly-appointed BJP national vice president Mukul Roy said on Saturday that he will try to do justice to the faith reposed on him by the party's top leadership ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal that is likely in April-May next year.
Speaking to reporters following the appointment, Roy expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"Assembly elections in the state are due in March, April or May next year, so it is my responsibility along with our party's state president Dilip Ghosh and other leaders here to bring the BJP in power in West Bengal," he said.
Differences between Roy and Ghosh have often been reported over the last few months, though both the leaders denied it.
Roy, a former TMC leader who had crossed over to the BJP in 2017 over differences with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is considered to have played a significant role in the rise of the saffron party as the main opposition in the state.
Announcing a new team of the party's national office- bearers, the BJP leadership also named Anupam Hazra, a former Trinamool Congress MP who joined the saffron party in March 2019, as national secretary.
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has been appointed a national spokesperson of the party in the new team announced by BJP president J P Nadda.
Rahul Sinha, a former president of BJP's West Bengal unit, was dropped as the party's national secretary.