KOLKATA: Rajya Sabha MP and West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha president Roopa Ganguly may be removed from her post for supporting Jalpaiguri trafficking accused BJP leader Juhee Choudhury.
In a bid to protect its image, the state BJP leadership has already removed BJP Mahila Morcha general secretary Juhee Choudhury and her father and senior BJP leader Rabindra Narayan Choudhury from party positions after Juhee was nabbed
near Indo-Nepal border.
However, even after Juhee's removal from the party post, Roopa Ganguly continued supporting the accused, claiming that Juhee was a victim of Trinamool Congress conspiracy. Party insiders claimed that Roopa's undented support even after Juhee's removal from an important party post caused cracks in the leadership of the party, with several leaders wanting to maintain distance from tainted BJP leader Juhee Choudhury and anyone associated with her.
The party had earlier instituted an enquiry to ascertain as to who appointed Juhee to the general secretary post of Mahila Morcha. Sources claimed that Juhee's close links were found with Roopa Ganguly. The former actress had defended Juhee as a 'little girl trapped in Trinamool vendetta politics'.
Rubbing salt to the wound, Jalpaiguri child trafficking racket prime accused Chandana Chakraborty had also named Roopa Ganguly and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. She claimed that Juhee had lobbied with the two leaders to influence Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) for sanction of central funds for Chandana's shelter homes and renewal of licences for them, in exchange of expensive gifts.
Though Roopa refused to lend ears to the allegations and threatened to file defamation case against Chandana, the party leadership was conscious to keep the party's name out of the trafficking racket.
As if giving voice to the rumours already making rounds in BJP circles, state party president Dilip Ghosh told media on Friday: "Indiscipline won't be tolerated. Party would do whatever it needs, to protect its image."
Party insiders said that the top brass of the state leadership was already in a fix over recent joinees getting embroiled in controversies. Actress-turned-politician Roopa Ganguly had joined the party in January 2015 and became the party's Rajya Sabha MP in 2016.
The party is already on the backfoot in West Bengal with arrest of vice president and spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar for allegedly duping an Teacher's Eligibility Test (TET) aspirant of Rs 7 lakh and another party leader from Salt Lake area of Kolkata, Dilip Ghosh (not the state president), behind the bars for alleged involvement in the Bhaduria infant trafficking racket. While Majumdar had joined BJP from Congress, Ghosh left CPM to join the ranks of the saffron party.
Due to this, the party has also decided to hold screening test before inducting people from other parties.