West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha released a video statement on Twitter.
Calcutta:
The new internal reshuffle of the BJP has not gone very well with all the troops. Rahul Sinha, one of the party’s oldest leaders in West Bengal, could not contain his resentment on Saturday that he was replaced as national secretary general by a former congressman from Trinamool while another defector party in power, Mukul Roy, was promoted.
“For 40 years I served the BJP as a soldier. I have to step down because a Trinamool Congress leader arrives – there can be nothing more unhappy than this award for serving the BJP since birth,” he said in a video message on Twitter – both in Hindi and Bengali for good measure.
“I won’t say anything more about it. I don’t want to say anything for or against the award I received from the party. Whatever I have to say, I will say it in 10-12 days and decide my future. action plan, ”Mr. Sinha said.
Served @ BJP4India for 40 years as a warrior and today just to include @AITCofficial Leaders, I was asked to leave the party post.@Narendra Modi@ BJP4Bengalpic.twitter.com/yN1Zok8BdV
– Rahul Sinha (@RahulSinhaBJP) September 26, 2020
Anupam Hazra, who replaced Sinha as Secretary General, said: “Mr. Sinha may have felt hurt and I will talk to him sooner rather than later. There are ups and downs in life. I’m sure he will understand. “
Mr Hazra was MP for Trinamool from Bolpur from 2014 but suspended by the party in January 2019. He joined the BJP and was lined up from the prestigious Jadavpur headquarters in Kolkata. He lost the seat to Mimi Chakraborty of Trinamool.
One of the main architects of BJP’s astonishing advances in Bengal in recent years, Mukul Roy’s promotion was the subject of the party’s first reshuffle under the leadership of new president JP Nadda, who was elected unopposed and succeeded to Amit Shah in January.
A regular member of the BJP’s national executive, Roy was appointed one of the party’s national vice-presidents just ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for next year. The rise coincided with the pink slip for Mr. Sinha.
The move came as Mr Roy was in talks with his old party and even considering a comeback. In recent weeks, there have been reports that Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Mukul Roy fell out at a party meeting in Delhi during discussions over the strategy and outlook for the poll.
One of the founding members of Trinamool Congress, Mr. Roy resigned in October 2017 after disputes with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu, who was an MP for Trinamool, joined the BJP in May last year, after being suspended by Ms. Banerjee.
The BJP reshuffle also saw top leaders like Ram Madhav, P Muralidhar Rao and Anil Jain being replaced while others like Tejasvi Surya, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vasundhara Raje secured new appointments.
