The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday suspended senior leaders Ritesh Tiwari and Joy Prakash Majumdar for allegedly speaking against the party, reported ANI. On Sunday, the two leaders had been issued show-cause notices.
According to notice issued by the party’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar on Monday, Tiwari and Joy Prakash Majumdar have been “temporarily suspended” till an investigation against them is completed.
Meanwhile, Tiwari has alleged that Sukanta Majumdar was being misled, reported Hindustan Times.
“The party should come out clear about the allegations that they are making,” he said. “Sukanta Majumdar is a good person but he is under tremendous pressure from state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty and Amit Malviya [the head of the BJP’s information technology cell].”
He also claimed that “a coterie of leaders” in the BJP were acting as agents of rival Trinamool Congress for their “personal gains”.
Tiwari also pointed out the irony that he was served a show-cause notice by a disciplinary committee that was itself dissolved earlier this month.
“Sukanta Majumdar has dissolved all committees till the new ones are formed,” he told Hindustan Times. “Members of the old committee told me no meeting was held.”
Majumdar said he will address a press conference on Tuesday, reported ABP Ananda.
Grievances within the party started brewing last month when 10 BJP MLAs, including Union minister Shantanu Thakur, quit the party’s WhatsApp groups in protest against their exclusion from the new state committee.
Tiwari and Joy Prakash Majumdar, who were earlier vice presidents in the state unit, had also been excluded from the newly-formed committee.
On January 13, the BJP’s state unit had dissolved all its departments and cells amid discontent among party members. These cells and departments were constituted only a few weeks ago.
The party’s decision came two days ahead of a meeting of the dissident BJP leaders. The meeting was chaired by Thakur, who is considered an influential leader of the Matua community in the state and represents the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency. Both Tiwari and Joy Prakash Majumdar were present at the meeting.
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