The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) revealed a 35-member new state committee in West Bengal, excluding former state presidents Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar, along with the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. The decision was clarified by a member of the new state committee, citing the party’s constitution that bars former state presidents from joining newly formed state committees. Additionally, individuals holding government portfolios are ineligible for state committee positions as per the party’s constitution.
The exclusion of Ghosh and Majumdar was explained due to their past roles as state presidents of the BJP in West Bengal, with Majumdar also serving as a Union Minister of State. Similarly, Adhikari’s absence from the new state committee was attributed to his current responsibilities as the Leader of the Opposition, particularly focusing on leading the party’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal next year. The central leadership aims to relieve him of additional organizational duties to concentrate on his present tasks.
Adhering to the party’s “one-person, one-post” policy, the new state committee does not include any existing legislators this time. Notably, five current legislators have been omitted from the committee, while exceptions were made for a few others, such as Shankar Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, and Dipak Burman. The announcement of the new state committee coincides with the visit of BJP’s national president and Union Minister for Health, J.P. Nadda, to Kolkata, who is set to preside over a crucial meeting of the state committee to strategize for the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal later this year.
