Resentment among West Bengal BJP workers over move to induct turncoats
KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy’s recent claim that 107 MLAs from other political parties were ready to join the saffron camp has caused resentment among the party’s old leaders and workers, who have complained to the state-level leaders that Roy is trying to induct MLAs into the party by promising them tickets for the Assembly polls in 2021.
Last Saturday, Roy said during a press conference that 107 MLAs, mostly from the Trinamool Congress, would join the BJP shortly.
Roy will recommend the names of the defectors to the party’s national leadership for fielding them as candidates in the next Assembly polls. If he is successful, the party’s old workers and leaders will suffer and the turncoats will benefit,’’ said a BJP leader from West Midnapore district, where the saffron camp made heavy inroads in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
According to BJP sources, the party’s national president, Amit Shah, has instructed the leadership in Bengal to start making preparations in all the Assembly constituencies, with an eye on the 2021 Assembly elections.
‘’Earlier, we were told that the party’s old leaders and workers would be given priority when the candidates’ list would be prepared. But the way Roy is trying to induct MLAs from other parties will disturb the process,’’ said another district-level BJP leader.