KOLKATA: Cracks within the BJP’s Bengal chapter are getting wider since its poor show in the recent civic polls.
The latest development was party state general secretary and Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee on Monday meeting two dissidents — former vice-presidents Jay Prakash Majumdar and Ritesh Tiwari.
This comes two days after Chatterjee raised the issue of “introspection” in last Saturday’s meeting, which was convened to analyse the reason behind the debacle.
Chatterjee had said the party should conduct self-assessment for the rout in the civic polls. She also alleged that instead of competent faces, candidates of the state leadership’s choice were given berths in the state hierarchy.
She soon received flak from the national leadership. BJP national general secretary Dilip Ghosh said, “If someone shrugs off responsibility and pass the buck to others, it is not introspection. Introspection is to assess whether I have done the job on my part.”
Though the Hooghly MP didn’t disclose her discontent in public, she has not been visible at any public activities of the party since her defeat in the last year’s Assembly elections. Her demand for introspection and its criticism by Ghosh are considered a duel between the BJP functionaries and the dissidents.
Chatterjee on Monday met Majumdar, Tiwari and other disgruntled party leaders, including Raju Banerjee and Sayantan Basu, at an undisclosed location and it triggered speculation of widening rift in the saffron camp’s Bengal chapter.
In Saturday’s introspection meeting, Chatterjee had said instead of focusing on the ruling TMC’s terror, the saffron party should find out the real reason behind the setback.