BJP divided over visit to hills

TT, Calcutta, Oct. 6: A section of the Bengal BJP today questioned state party president Dilip Ghosh's decision to visit the hills at this juncture, saying the backlash yesterday was a "major loss of face".

Another group of leaders in the Bengal unit defended the move, saying it was Amit Shah who had instructed Ghosh to visit north Bengal, particularly the hills.

"It was not a good decision to visit the hills when the region is yet to return to normality after 104 days of strike. What we saw on TV yesterday was an embarrassment for the party and a major loss of face," said a BJP state committee member.

The other section defending Ghosh's decision described his visit as a "courtesy call" to exchange Vijaya Dashami greetings with BJP leaders in the hills and those of its ally, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. "With the region limping back to normality, the BJP leaders thought it conducive to visit the hills now and exchange greetings," a source said.

Another senior BJP leader said Ghosh had had a talk today with Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia, who denied having any prior knowledge of the team's visit to the hills.

Several political parties in the hills, including the Jana Andolan Party, have questioned Ahluwalia's absence from his constituency in the three months of the strike.