(From left) BJP leaders Mukul Roy, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh and Arvind Menon at an organisational meeting in Kolkata on Saturday. (Express)Medinipur MP and BJP state president Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said party leaders and workers should ensure that newcomers felt comfortable. He added that it was the state leaders’ responsibility to take along both the old-timers and newcomers to expand party base in the state. He also took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her Chandrayaan-2 remarks and said she was among those who could not be in tune with the nation’s aspirations.
His comments came in the wake of a rift surfacing between the newcomers and old-timers within the party, especially after TMC leaders’ recent switch to the BJP.
“BJP is an old but small party in Bengal. It had never made gains in polls, until this Lok Sabha elections. Now, the party is expanding and new people are joining, including several from other political parties. However, as the party grows, our thinking and heart should also expand. Old-timers should take along others to expand the party in Bengal,” Ghosh said while speaking at a party organisational meeting in Kolkata.
Kailash Vijayvargiya, observer for Bengal, and Mukul Roy, national executive committee member, were among those who were present at the meeting.
“State leaders will have to create an environment so that newcomers feel at home. It is our task to see that everyone gets proper responsibilities in the party. In Parliament, the person sitting on my right side was from Bihar and said he was with the RJD earlier. The person sitting on my left was from Maharashtra and was previously with the Congress,” said Ghosh.
The statement came at a time when controversy had erupted in the state unit’s inner circle over fresh joiners from Trinamool Congress. A section of party leaders were unhappy over the manner, in which TMC MLAs were joining BJP. Recently, former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and his associate Baishakhi Bandopadhyay expressed their desire to quit BJP soon after joining, stating that they were not getting the respect they deserved. Some party leaders also raised questions over the BJP’s attempt to grab power in municipalities and then facing defeat.
Ghosh said the target, set by the central leadership, to enrol new members in West Bengal had been met.
“The Delhi leadership set a target of 60 lakh new members in Bengal. They were not sure we could achieve it, given the ruling party’s terror tactics. But we have crossed that target. The Delhi leadership is happy that we achieved it. We are No. 1 among all states in enrolling new members. Now, I have set a target of one crore party members. But one has to keep in mind that the new names have to be put into the central database. While some districts are doing well , some are not,” said Ghosh.
Ghosh also slammed the CM over her remarks on Chandrayaan-2 mission. On Friday, Banerjee had said the mission was being highlighted to divert attention from the economic crisis that the country was facing.
“It seemed that the chief minister was sad yesterday. As if the success of Chandrayaan-2 would have brought down her government. Some people’s reactions are neither in tune with the country’s people nor with the nation’s aspirations,” said Ghosh.
