Division in Bengal BJP: Union Minister exits party's whatsapp group

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• Jan 5, 2022 | Deleted

Digital Desk: Ahead of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda to West Bengal to null out differences in the party's state unit, Union Minister of State Santanu Thakur on Tuesday said that he took a leave from the party's WhatsApp groups

Though the state BJP leadership has remained close-mouthed about the matter, sources say, Thakur, who represents the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat and is a Matua community leader, is dissatisfied with the "lack of representation of Matua leaders" in the party's recently reconstituted state and district committees.

"I will not like to comment on my leaving the WhatsApp groups right now. Let the right time come, I will tell you the reason for my actions and my future plans," Thakur, who holds the portfolio of MoS Ports, Shipping and Waterways, told media persons on Tuesday.

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In recent weeks, nine BJP MLAs have left the party's WhatsApp groups, voicing their displeasure with the party's newly constituted state committee.

On December 25, five MLAs — Mukutmoni Adhikari, Subrata Thakur, Ambica Roy, Asok Kirtania and Asim Sarkar left several WhatsApp groups of the party expressing their displeasure over their exclusion from the state committee. Most of them belong to the Matua community.

A day later, four MLAs from Bankura district — Amarnath Sakha, Dibakar Ghorami, Niladri Sekhar Dana and Nirmal Dhara — left the party's WhatsApp groups.

Several of them rejoined the party's WhatsApp groups after senior party leaders opened conversations with them,

The state committee, which was restructured following the party's defeat in the Kolkata municipal elections last month, is devoid of Matua faces. The names of community leaders were also absent from organisational leadership in district units where Matua voters were in the majority.

Santanu Thakur is also a leader of the All India Matua Mahasangha, a religious and cultural organisation of the community.

"It is an internal matter of the party. We will talk to him and resolve any issue which he may be facing," said state BJP chief Sukanta Majumder.

BJP national president JP Nadda is likely to visit the state on January 9, while Amit Shah is scheduled to come to the state in the last week of January. The dates, however, have not been finalised yet.

The Bengal chapter of the BJP experienced turmoil following the party's failure in the Assembly elections last year, followed by its thrashing in the Kolkata city elections.

Meanwhile, the TMC, which is in power, has accused the BJP of dividing people for political gain. "The BJP has always sought to divide and exploit people. In response to the development in the rival BJP, state Forests Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said, "They have played politics with the Matua people."