KOLKATA: A day after the BJP state leadership issued show-cause notice to two former functionaries, including former vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar and former secretary Ritesh Tiwari, for expressing their discontent in public, dissidents in the saffron camp’s Bengal chapter are gearing up for securing support in their favour.
Union minister and BJP MP from Bongaon, Shantanu Thakur, one of the dissidents who is a representative of Matuas, the Hindu religious sect comprising scheduled caste refugees from Bangladesh, made it clear that he would not retreat and said many other disgruntled functionaries would hold meetings with him and questioned whether the party would show-cause all of them.
Other than the Matuas, many BJP workers became vocal against the party’s recent rejig giving no room for the party’s old workers.
Five MLAs from Junglemahal, BJP’s another stronghold other than Matua, dominated pockets, already left the party’s social media group.
Meanwhile, Bengali actor Bonny Sengupta, who had joined the BJP ahead of the assembly polls last year, on Monday said he is quitting the saffron party, as it has failed to keep promises regarding development of the state and the film industry.
Sengupta had been maintaining distance from the party after it failed to come to power in the state, despite a high-pitched campaign.
"This is to inform that my association with the Bharatiya Janata Party hs come 2 an end with effect frm today. The party has failed to keep commitments as promised & also I dnt see any form of development,they had promised for the state of West Bengal or for Bengali film industry (sic)," he tweeted.
Sengupta later told reporters that BJP leaders were not in touch with him since the assembly poll results on May 2, 2021.
The West Bengal BJP unit made light of the development, asserting that it would hardly impact the party.
"It is his decision, so what can we say? And regarding our promises, we did not come to power in West Bengal. Therefore, we don't have the executive power to do anything for the development of the Bengali film industry," BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
Bengali actors Srabanti Chatterjee and Tanusree Chakraborty had also recently quit the BJP.
The party on Monday also suspended its senior West Bengal leaders Ritesh Tiwari and Jaiprakash Majumdar, who were show caused on January 23, for violating the party discipline.
A statement issued by the West Bengal BJP unit said Tiwari and Majumdar have been suspended till the party's disciplinary committee completes its investigation under instructions of BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar.
Reacting to his suspension, an infuriated Tiwari told a news channel that "a coterie of leaders" who had joined BJP in recent times are acting as "agents of TMC" and are harming its interests.
The two senior BJP leaders, who were dropped from the reconstituted office bearers committee last year, were on Sunday issued a show-cause notice by the state unit.
(With PTI Inputs)