Bengal BJP chief warns Arjun Singh, Saumitra: ‘Raise party matters internally, not in public’

Amid demand for an overhaul of the state BJP unit following the party’s successive drubbings in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal BJP unit president Sukanta Majumdar on Thursday warned party leaders Arjun Singh and Saumitra Khan from making public statements against the party.

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the party’s working committee meeting in Kolkata, the state BJP chief said, “If they (Arjun Singh and Khan) have anything to say about the party then they should raise it internally. They are free to raise it before BJP national president JP Nadda and senior party leaders like Mangal Pandey, Sunil Bansal and Amit Malviya. If there is any organisational weakness in any area then the responsibility lies not only on workers but also on the leaders. They should exercise caution before making statements in public,” said Majumdar, who retained his Balurghat seat in the Lok Sabha elections and was included in the Council of Ministers in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

On Wednesday, both Khan and Singh had criticised the state leadership while speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the state BJP executive committee meeting.

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“There is a need to have a change. No one wants to see a failed leader for a very long time. New leaders must be given the opportunity to take the party ahead… If the state leadership cannot move in the right direction, the party will fail again,” Khan had said.

BJP leader Arun Singh said party leaders needed to “stand by the people… instead of holding meetings behind closed doors”. “To defeat Mamata Banerjee, who has the support of the police and goons, one has to adopt a different approach,” Singh, the former MP from Barrackpore, had said.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 18 seats in West Bengal and secured 40.7% of the votes, in its best ever performance in the state. The TMC won 22 seats and got 43.3% of the vote share.