Former BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha in a screenshot of his video he posted on Twitter. (Credits: Twitter)
In a video message, Rahul Sinha stated that he will articulate his ‘stance’ and ‘next step’ in light of Saturday’s announcement in the next 10 to 12 days.
- News18.com
- Last update: September 26, 2020 11:52 PM IST
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The organizational restructuring of the BJP central unit on Saturday sparked discontent in his Bengal unit, as senior leader Rahul Sinha, who was retired as national secretary, said this is the “reward” he earned for his dedicated service to the party for 40 years. years.
In a major reform within the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Saturday BJP national chairman Jagat Prakash Nadda shuffled some top positions with some names removed and few faces presented from states where the party is trying to develop leadership.
Apparently hinting at newly appointed officials Mukul Roy and Anupam Hazra, traitors to Trinamool’s ruling Congress, the former two-term state president claimed they had left him to pave the way for TMC leaders who have joined the party of the saffron.
“For the past 40 years, I have been associated with the party. Today, the party has rewarded me, who decided to leave me to pave the way for the leaders who have come together from TMC,” Sinha said in a video message.
“I will wait 10 to 12 days before announcing my next course of action,” he said, hinting at a rebellion.
The BJP has made great strides in West Bengal and has become the main opposition against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) by pushing Congress and the Left Front into a “negligible position”. The latter parties must now avoid dividing the anti-TMC and anti-BJP votes in state politics to reassert their positions as key challengers ahead of Mamata Banerjee ahead of the 2021 assembly elections.
Sinha, after serving two consecutive terms as state chairman of the BJP, was appointed national secretary of the saffron party in 2015. Upon announcing a new team of national party officials, the BJP leadership appointed Mukul Roy as vice chairman, and Anupam Hazra, a former TMC MP who joined the saffron party in March 2019, as secretary.
Roy, once considered number two on the TMC, switched to the BJP in 2017 following differences with party supreme Mamata Banerjee. Hazra was a young lawgiver from Trinamool who had his loyalty to Mukul Roy. After Roy’s departure from the party, Hazra has contacted Roy. In March last year, along with Dulal Chandra from Congress and Khagen Murmu from CPM they joined the Saffron Party in Delhi.
When contacted, BJP State President Dilip Ghosh said the newcomers may have been included in the restructured team, but that doesn’t mean the veterans have been sidelined. “The party has made a decision. I have nothing to say about it. But I think it is a wrong idea that the veterans have been eliminated. Maybe they will be accommodated in some other way,” he said. Ghosh said that he has yet to speak to Sinha about this issue.
With West Bengal set to go to the polls next year, the elevation of Roy and Hazra clearly hasn’t gone well with Sinha. Now, it remains to be seen if the central BJP approaches him or awaits his “next step.”
(With input from IANS and PTI)
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