After desertions, Bengal BJP chief replaced abruptly

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20

West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Dilip Ghosh was removed abruptly from his post on Monday more than a year before the completion of his term. He has been made the national vice-president.

Also read: BJP not to field candidate for Rajya Sabha byelection in West Bengal

He has been replaced with Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar, amid infighting and a string of defections from the party to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Five joined TMC

Four BJP MLAs and an MP have switched over to the TMC since the Assembly election results on May 2

New WB BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar is the first state president of the saffron camp from north Bengal

Ghosh, a bachelor and old RSS hand, was the first appointed the party chief of West Bengal ahead of the Assembly poll in 2016. He was given a consecutive second term as the party president in January 2020. His tenure was slated to end in December 2022.

There was a strong buzz that Ghosh, the Lok Sabha member from Medinipur, getting removed from the president’s post and replaced by Majumdar.

Ever since BJP’s defeat in the Assembly elections held earlier this year, Ghosh has been facing dissention.

His bitter fight with Babul Supriyo, sitting MP and former Union Minister of State who joined the the Trinamool Congress last week, also made news.

“I thank my party leadership for providing me this opportunity. The party has grown from strength to strength over the last few years. I will always aim to fortify its base even further,” Majumdar told the media.