Team News Riveting
Kolkata, September 20
The heavyweights from the BJP switching over to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal finally cost dear to the State Party Chief Dilip Ghosh.
In a surprise move late Monday evening, BJP removed its Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh. Party’s Balurghat MP Sukanto Majumdar has been selected as his replacement.
According to BJP insiders, the steady erosion in the BJP’s ranks despite emerging as the only major Opposition party in Bengal could be one of the reasons behind Ghosh’s sudden removal. Most of the leaders leaving the BJP had come from other political parties and Ghosh was reportedly instrumental in leaving the BJP’s doors open for anyone and everyone from any political party to make a switch.
Ghosh, the Kharagpur MP, has been appointed as one of the national vice-presidents of the BJP.
A hardcore RSS man, Ghosh was inducted to the BJP in 2014, when it won two Lok Sabha seats in Bengal. While almost the entire country was swept by the Narendra Modi wave, Bengal had largely remained untouched. However, he should be credited for gradually building electoral machinery in Bengal.
In 2016, the BJP managed only three MLAs. Under Ghosh’s leadership three years later, the BJP had a stellar performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when it bagged 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.
It was a big blow to the ruling Trinamool and Mamata Banerjee that forced them to redesign their strategy for the 2021 assembly elections.
