KOLKATA: The Bjp has delivered an exhibition notice to the party’s Bengal secretary general, Sayantan Basu, and two district leaders for speaking out against the inclusion of select leaders from the Trinamool Congress.
Basu’s excuse drew his attention to the “derogatory and anti-party” statements he made to the media on December 18 against former Asansol civic chief and Trinamool leader Jitendra Tiwari when he was ready to join the BJP. “I have already responded to the ad,” Basu said.
The disciplinary action came two days after Union Interior Minister Amit Shah distanced himself from Union Minister Babul Supriyo over comments the minister made about Tiwari. Babul Supriyo’s Facebook comment, along with Basu and Agnimitra Paul’s media bytes, against the inclusion of Tiwari may have forced the latter to make a U-turn and return to Trinamool even after he gave up all his publications and resigned from the party.
Spurred on by the BJP top brass in Delhi, the state party vice chairman Pratap Banerjee issued the cover letter because older people felt such knee-jerk reactions could fuel similar reactions at the grassroots and dissuade those willing to join the party. . While the showcause is intended to stem the trend of making comments detrimental to the party’s health, the BJP has at the same time introduced a panel to examine the profiles of those willing to join the party.
According to a section of Flare BJP leaders, the notice to Basu also indicated that the party had not closed its doors to Tiwari. The latter was in Kolkata on Tuesday and received no calls from TOI.
In addition to Basu, the BJP also angered two district leaders, Nagrakata party chairman Santosh Hati and Alipurduar chairman Ganga Prasad Sharma, after some workers demonstrated with black flags against the former minister’s inclusion. Dasarath Tirkey and Nagrakata MLA Sukra Munda from Trinamool.
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