Major shakeup in West Bengal BJP, Arjun Singh, Sabyasachi Dutta and Locket Chatterjee appointed office bearers, Chandra Bose dropped

KOLKATA: In a major shakeup at the organisation’s top rung, the West Bengal BJP appointed Arjun Singh and Sabyasachi Dutta, who had switched over from Trinamool Congress last year, as a vice president and general secretary respectively.
Bankura MP Subhash Sarkar, general secretary Raju Banerjee and secretary Ritesh Tiwari were also appointed as vice presidents. Chandra Bose, who had at times voiced opinions “not shared by the state unit” of the party was dropped from the post of vice-president.
The changes, were long overdue, since the party’s organisational election was over in January and Dilip Ghosh was re-elected for a second term. On Monday, BJP made some significant changes and appointed Barrackpore MP Singh as vice president. Singh, who switched over to BJP a little before the Lok Sabha polls, has gradually grown into a key factor for the BJP’s organisation in North 24 Parganas.
Dutta, former mayor of Bidhannagar Corporation, switched over to BJP in October last year. The leader, known for his closeness to Mukul Roy, joined the party in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah. Since then, Dutta has been active in some of the key organisational districts including Rajarhat-Newtown.
Subhash Sarkar, who wrested Bankura from the ruling Trinamool Congress in the last Lok Sabha polls, has in the past held several organisational positions. Ritesh Tiwari, a secretary for the past 10 years, has also been appointed a vice president. Tiwari, who was one of the founder members of the BJP’s media and IT cell in Bengal, had been an election observer to a number of districts in the south Bengal.
Raju Banerjee, a general secretary of the party’s Bengal unit, was nominated as the vice-president. MP Locket Chatterjee was appointed a general secretary of the party while Agnimira Paul was given the charge of Mahila Morcha of the Bengal BJP.