Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy faces defection ire Free hand given to Roy over defections could result in deepening the cracks in Bengal BJP

Sandip Chowdhury, TT, 1 June 2019, Calcutta: Discontent in the Bengal BJP is rising over the way senior leader Mukul Roy — the erstwhile Trinamul Number Two — is engineering defections from his former party and bringing in new entrants without consulting state leaders.

“He’s (Roy) doing it for some time. We cannot digest it any more as he is getting people who can become liabilities for us,” said a leader in the BJP state unit.

Asked about the rumblings, Roy said on Friday: “We would not gloss over the emotions of the workers. But we have certain strategies that need to be worked out ahead of the Assembly polls,” said Roy, masterminding what the BJP has described as “seven-phase” defection in consultation with Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Roy has got several leaders to the BJP in recent months. These include former IPS and close Mamata Banerjee aide Bharati Ghosh, Soumitra Khan, Anupam Hazra, Bhatpara strongman and Trinamul MLA Arjun Singh and Congress MLA Dulal Bar. Khan and Arjun have become BJP MPs.

Earlier this week, Roy got Trinamul MLA Manirul Islam and former legislator Gadadhar Hazra. Both were inducted into the BJP at the party’s central office in Delhi in the presence of Vijayvargiya.

“State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh was present in Delhi when Manirul and others were given membership. Not only was Ghosh kept in the dark, he was not even consulted. This is bad for the organisational spirit, especially after such a stellar show by the party in the state,” said an insider.

Immediately after Islam’s inclusion, resentment rose in the party’s rank and file in Birbhum. Several functionaries from Islam’s home district called up state leaders to protest.

“I was getting so many calls that beyond a point, I stopped taking them,” said a source. Islam, known for making controversial statements, was a suspect in a 2010 triple-murder case. His name was later dropped from the chargesheet.

On Thursday, state chief Ghosh had during a news conference conceded there was disquiet over the defectors. “People, party workers and I have reservations about the entry of certain leaders from the Opposition camp,” Ghosh said but added that “we have to digest them as part of a bigger political game”.

The BJP state unit is a divided house with multiple factions. Some leaders believe the free hand given to Roy over defections could result in deepening the cracks, which might be counter-productive before the Assembly polls.

Another senior BJP leader took a different view. “Ours is a structured party. People with sullied image may get entry because of political reasons but they will not get a free hand. The party will use them, not the other way round,” said a source.