The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday cautioned former chief of its West Bengal unit Dilip Ghosh against making public comments about party leaders.
In a letter to Ghosh, BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh said that some of his statements had embarrassed the party leadership.
On April 21, Ghosh had described the BJP’s West Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar as an inexperienced leader who had joined politics only recently. “Sukanta Majumdar is less experienced,” he had said, according to NDTV. “The party has been fighting for long and there are experienced veterans...They should be put up to fight in the state.”
Majumdar replaced Ghosh as the BJP’s West Bengal chief on September 20, over four months after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress won a landslide victory in the Assembly elections in the state. Several BJP leaders in West Bengal had switched to the Trinamool Congress after the results were declared.
In his letter, Singh advised Ghosh to refrain from “going to the media or any public fora about your own colleagues either in the state of West Bengal or anywhere else”.
Singh said that such statements from a person of Ghosh’s stature could lead to unrest and alienation among party ranks. In September, Ghosh was made a national vice-president of the BJP.
“While your commitment to the party has been absolute, there have been some avoidable instances when some of your statements or outbursts have anguished the state party leaders and have also caused embarrassment to the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the letter stated.
Singh said that the party leadership had drawn his attention to such concerns on several occasions earlier as well “in the fond hope that you will take note”. He said he hoped that Ghosh would appreciate the sensitivity of the situation.
The BJP national general secretary said that he had written the letter on the instructions of party chief JP Nadda.
In the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress won 213 seats while the BJP emerged victorious in 77 seats.
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