'Served BJP for 40 years for this?': Rahul Sinha dropped in reshuffle

Kolkata, Sep 26: The organisational restructuring of the BJPs central unit on Saturday sparked discontent in its Bengal unit as senior leader Rahul Sinha, who was dropped as the national secretary, said that this is the "reward" he got for his dedicated service to the party for 40 long years.

Apparently hinting at newly appointed office-bearers Mukul Roy and Anupam Hazra, turncoats from the ruling Trinamool Congress, the two-term former state president claimed that he has been dropped to pave way for TMC leaders who have joined the saffron party.

"For the last 40 years, I have been associated with the party. Today, I have been rewarded by the party, which decided to drop me to pave way for leaders who have joined from the TMC," Sinha said in a video message.

"I will wait for 10-12 days before announcing my next line of action," he said.

Sinha, after serving two back-to-back terms as the state BJP president, was appointed as a national secretary of the saffron party in 2015.

Announcing a new team of the party''s national office- bearers, the BJP leadership named Mukul Roy as a vice- president, and Anupam Hazra, a former TMC MP who joined the saffron party in March 2019, as a secretary.

Roy, once considered the number two in the TMC, had switched over to the BJP in 2017 following differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

When contacted, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said that newcomers may have been included in the restructured team, but that doesn''t mean old-timers were sidelined.

"The party has taken a decision. I have nothing to say in this regard. But I think this is a misplaced idea that old-timers have been dropped. Maybe they will be accommodated in some other way," he said.

Ghosh said that he is yet to speak to Sinha on this issue.

Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has been appointed a national spokesperson of the party in the new team announced by BJP president J P Nadda.