West Bengal: BJP expels Howrah Sadar chief Surajit Saha after attack on Suvendu Adhikari

KOLKATA: The Bengal BJP has shown the door to party’s Howrah Sadar president Surajit Saha for openly speaking out against leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
On Wednesday, an expulsion letter signed by state BJP vice-president Pratap Banerjee was issued against Saha for “breaching organizational discipline”.
Endorsing the decision, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said: “There is a platform to express views. A party organizer should do it within the party instead of taking his grievances outside the party forum.” Saha was known to be close to Ghosh.
Saha felt let down after BJP made former Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty the election committee chairman for the coming civic polls in Howrah. According to Saha, Trinamool turncoat Chakraborty was made the chairman at another Trinamool turncoat’s (Adhikari) behest.
Saha opposed this decision and alleged that Adhikari was trying to build a Trinamool B-team within BJP with turncoats who joined the party ahead of assembly polls earlier this year.
The expelled leader also heaped allegations of corruption on Chakraborty. “Our party had campaigned against the civic body led by Chakraborty. We suffered while fighting with the turncoats in assembly polls. The civic polls won’t be different,” Saha said.
He also pointed to Adhikari’s alleged link to the Narada controversy. “He (Adhikari) was seen accepting money in the Narada sting operation,” Saha alleged. “He has to prove his integrity. He is trying to field candidates close to him. Chakraborty could not even ensure a lead in his own booth and I opposed that,” Saha further said before his expulsion.
Hours before speaking to the media, Saha wrote a Facebook post saying BJP inducted several leaders from Trinamool who were made the driving force of the assembly poll campaign. The party would have done better without turncoats, he added.
Trouble was brewing in Howrah BJP since the assembly poll counting day on May 2. “Saha was seen touching Trinamool leader and minister Arup Roy’s feet at the St Thomas School counting centre that day. The incident sparked a controversy among the ranks,” a Howrah BJP leader said.
Before this, a section of Howrah BJP leaders had complained against Saha to the party’s state headquarters.