‘Elect, Don’t Select a Leader’: Bengal BJP Leader's Tweet Signals Fissure in Party

Kolkata: Ahead of BJP chief Amit Shah's visit to the state next week, fissures in the party's Bengal unit are out in the open with its vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose imploring the leadership to "elect" and not "select" a leader for the state.

In a series of tweets since Tuesday, the grand-nephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose said the crisis in the state BJP could be solved by "electing" a party president and not by "selecting" one.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh's term is scheduled to come to an end in December.

"Crisis in the leadership issue in @BJP4Bengal can be solved by electing a party president & not selecting one! Let the ballot decide both in the districts & Kolkata who should take the leadership to take the party to victory. At present hopeless situation (sic)," Bose said in one of the tweets.

"Rumours leading to the leadership crisis in BJP Bengal must be resolved immediately. Matter in public domain for last 6months. @BJP4Bengal poised to attain position to work for the people of Bengal provided internal democracy in the party is reinstated (sic)," he said in another tweet.

"I have not brought it out in the open! Bengal president stated in a public meeting he would remain till Dec'18,Observer states till #LokSabha elections 2019. Others say till Panchayat polls 2018! I'm trying to know the truth (sic)??," another of his tweets read.

Reacting to Bose's statements, Ghosh said he should quit the party if he felt there was no democracy in its state unit. "If he has problems with the state BJP, what has stopped him from leaving the party? Had he said similar things in the TMC or any other party, he would have been asked to leave," he said.

Regarding Bose's comments on his tenure as state BJP president, Ghosh said the former was not aware of the party's functioning, constitution and norms or else, he would not have made such comments in public.

The rift in the saffron party comes at a time when it is aiming to establish itself as the principal challenger to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.

Shah is scheduled to arrive in West Bengal on a two-day visit next week to look into the organisational aspects of the Bengal BJP.