In a joint Press conference, suspended BJP leaders, Jayprakash Majumdar and Ritesh Tiwari lashed out at the BJP state president and MP, Sukanta Majumder for allegedly running the party with two and a half years experience in politics.

The BJP West Bengal unit on Monday suspended two of its former vice-presidents, a day after issuing showcause notices to them. It ordered that Jayprakash Majumdar and Ritesh Tiwari will remain suspended till disciplinary proceedings against them are completed. However, the origin of the controversy that prevails within the party fold at the moment can be traced back to the recent organizational changes in the state committee that witnessed the exclusion of some prominent party leaders who till then were considered the face of the BJP in Bengal.

The exclusion took place under the charge of the party’s new president for the West Bengal unit, Sukanta Majumdar. It is said that the suspension of Jayprakash and Tiwari was a decision that stemmed from the fact that these two leaders held meetings with the Matua leader and BJP’s Bangaon MP Santanu Thakur on different occasions despite the party leadership reportedly advising against it.

Presently the suspended leaders have sought to hold party president Sukanta Majumdar responsible for the decision to suspend them. “Sukanta Majumdar has little experience in politics while our organizational state secretary Amitava Chakraborty has only two years of experience. Those that are trying to uplift the party, were ignored and deprived. We, since the beginning of Bengal Assembly polls, raised objections to bringing leaders from outside to win the election. Several BJP workers were killed fighting for the issues that were being prioritized by these leaders from outside. Like Congress, our state party structure became weak due to the intervention of the Central BJP leaders,” said Jayprakash.

Mr Tiwari, meanwhile, alleged that never in the history of the party had a leader been suspended only a day after show cause notices were issued. “We were denied any opportunity to reply to the notice.”