A group of BJP supporters and workers of the Harirampur and Gangarampur assembly segments today staged demonstrations in front of BJP party offices in different areas under the constituency, protesting the selection of BJP election candidates.

It may be recalled here that a group of BJP supporters last night vandalised a party office and set it on fire at Buniadpur in protest against the party’s move to nominate Nilanjan Roy as the election candidate there. This morning, BJP supporters at Harirampur kept up with their protests against the Harirampur candidate.

In Gangarampur, BJP supporters protested the selection of Satyan Roy, who had joined the BJP only a few months ago. The district president of the party, Binay Barman, however, denied any incident of demonstration or vandalism in party offices over the issue.

No protests over the issue were reported in Kushmandi, Tapan and Kumarganj constituencies. Rather, party workers celebrated the announcement of the candidates and have started campaigning there. Mr Roy, a former TMC MLA of Gangarampur, had tasted defeat in the elections in the year 2016.

He joined the BJP along with Suvendu Adhikari a few months ago. “We are not happy with Satyan Roy’s selection. Once, he used the police and local administration against us after the parliamentary elections. Now, he has no importance in the TMC and joined the BJP. We don’t know how he managed the ticket. We will protest against him and we have informed the district leaders about our demand to change the candidate. If our leaders do not pay heed to our demand, most of us will remain inactive during the entire election process,” said one BJP leader of Gangarampur, Subrata Haldar.

In the Harirampur Assembly area, a group of BJP supporters blocked the road and demonstrated against the BJP candidate Nilanjan Roy.

“We will not allow Nilanjan Roy in Harirampur. We have organised our assembly area in the past few years and there are so many workers and leaders in Harirampur who has educational qualification and has local acceptance. Nilanjan Roy is not familiar to us,” Shyamal Das, a BJP leader in the area, said.

BJP district president, Mr Barman, said, “There may be some dissatisfaction among the supporters and workers at some places, but it is not possible to satisfy everyone. The party has decided and prepared the candidates’ list. We have to follow this. We are holding discussions with our workers in those areas and we hope the situation will be normal soon.”