Bengal BJP: Is gap widening between Mukul Roy and Dilip Ghosh?

Kolkata, Oct 12: When Mukul Roy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in November last year, speculation was on whether the state leadership of the party will have a smooth going with the former heavyweight Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader. Both Roy and Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP president, had indicated time and again that they are eager to work closely for the BJP's growth in Bengal.

While Roy had said after joining the BJP that Ghosh is his "captain", the latter welcomed the former saying his arrival in the party is a positive development.

On Thursday, October 11, however, there were signs that the good words might not be too deep. According to reports in Bengali media, Ghosh lashed out at Roy in front the party's central leadership and accused him of demotivating the party's cadres. In a meeting at Roy's residence, Ghosh and Roy differed over the BJP's booth-level organisation and expressed their views contradicting each other in front of central leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shivprakash and Arvind Menon.

Siting BJP sources, a report in Ananda Bazar Patrika said Ghosh was upset when Roy said the party had not set up even 20 per cent of booths. Ghosh said the information was not right as the party is prepared with 60 per cent of its booth committees. None of the two leaders, however, agreed to divulge more on their conversations after the meeting.

Ghosh and Roy have not known to be close even though they have spoken well about each other. The state BJP leadership is under pressure from the top brass on the question of streamlining the party's organisation in the state. The party's move to ultilise Roy's organisational skills ahead of the big elections in 2019 and 2021 might have put Ghosh under added pressure to perform.