Dilip Ghosh loses key party post

Kolkata, July 29 (IANS) BJP Lok Sabha member from Midnapore constituency in West Bengal Dilip Ghosh has been removed from his key party post of national vice-president.

Party sources said that Ghosh, known for unbridled statements from time to time, had to pay the price for it. However, those within the party close to Ghosh said that he has been relieved from his party portfolio so that he can give more time to his constituency as the Lok Sabha member before the crucial battle of 2014 polls.

Ghosh, who was also state president of BJP in West Bengal, was replaced by the current state president and Lok Sabha member Sukanta Majumdar immediately after the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls. Later, on September 20, 2021, he was appointed the national vice-president of the party.

Ghosh’s removal from the key party post has come as a heartbreak to those who are close to him within the party, who feel that Ghosh had been the most successful among the state presidents of the party in West Bengal.

They claim that under Ghosh’s leadership, BJP tally went up to 18 from two in West Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Also under his leadership, BJP’s strength increased to 77 from three in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.

Officially, neither Ghosh nor any state leader of BJP from West Bengal has made any comment so far on his removal from the key party post.

However, there were indications of the displeasure of BJP’s central leadership on Ghosh’s style of functioning for quite some time. He was censured by the central leader in June last year and was asked to refrain from making unbridled statements in public or the media.

However, that censure could not bring him under control and he continued with his usual style of functioning. Probably, political observers feel, the present development of his removal from key party post, is an extension of that caution.