Saumitra Khan fury at ‘leader going to Delhi’: Cracks in the Bengal BJP deepened

He accused BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, without naming him, of misdirecting the party’s central leaders to usurp power in the state unit

Saumitra Khan: File picture

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |   08.07.21 :  Cracks in the Bengal BJP deepened on a day four leaders from the state got berths in the Narendra Modi cabinet, with the BJP’s Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan accusing party MLA and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, without naming him, of “misdirecting” central leaders for his own power.

“Sadly this leader is going to Delhi and misdirecting our central leaders and trying to draw all the attention...I will urge the leader of the Opposition to look into the mirror. None of our sacrifices are less than his. I’ve won polls several times as have you…This way, Bengal BJP will not go forward,” Khan said in a Facebook live session.

“He came to the party a month before polls and brought 128 other members…All thieves and thugs.”

Adhikari had joined the BJP in December 2020, four months before polls.

Khan announced he was resigning as the chief of the party’s youth wing in Bengal, sources close to him saying the denial of a cabinet berth rankled. But in the evening, he wrote on Facebook that he was withdrawing his resignation, as asked by B.L. Santosh, BJP's national general-secretary (organisation). Asked, Khan told this paper both Santosh and Union home minister Amit Shah asked him to continue. “…I see no future for Bengal BJP...”Khan said and added “our honourable president (Dilip Ghosh) doesn’t understand half the things.”