Experienced leaders should not be sidelined, Dilip Ghosh tells Bengal BJP chief

Amid the internal bickering in the West Bengal unit of the BJP, following the party’s recent debacle in the bypolls, BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh on Thursday said that the saffron camp’s state president, Sukanta Majumdar, should take everyone along and refrain from sidelining experienced leaders.

Several senior members of the BJP recently hit out at the state unit leadership for failing to identify the "lacunae" plaguing the party.

Ghosh said the party should work as a united force to be able to fight against the alleged misrule of the TMC.

"Sukanta Majumdar is comparatively new; it is quite obvious that he is taking time to adjust. We need to take everybody along. Old and experienced leaders who have fought many battles for the party can't be sidelined," Ghosh told reporters.

Majumdar, appointed as BJP president last September, however, declined to react to his statements.

BJP leader Ritesh Tiwari, suspended by the party earlier this year, among others had alleged in the past that they were being ignored and disregarded by the leadership.

The infighting within the BJP's state unit came to the fore after the TMC's Asansol candidate, Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, defeated BJP's Agnimitra Paul by over 3,00,000 votes.

Former Union minister Babul Supriyo clinched the Ballygunge seat in Kolkata, beating nearest CPI (M) rival by a margin of 20,228 votes.

The saffron party candidate came third in Ballygunge.

BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra recently urged the Bengal unit leadership to set its house in order by identifying lacunae, warning that the party's existence would be in crisis in the state.

Hazra also said that the leadership, instead of pretending "everything is alright", should take steps to solve issues of concern.

Last week, BJP MP Saumitra Khan had also lashed out at the Bengal leadership over the party’s drubbing in by-polls and said the loss was expected as its state unit was being led by "inexperienced leaders bereft of any political maturity".

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