After tweet, Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh leaves for Himalayas

(This story originally appeared in on Jul 15, 2021)

A tweet by an otherwise prosaic Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh has grabbed eyeballs in political circles.

On Tuesday evening, Ghosh uploaded on his official Twitter handle a photograph of sunset from Durgapur Expressway with the caption: “Sometimes it is important to cherish the sunset because it is only when the sun sets that we see a new dawn.”

The tweet and caption have fuelled speculation about a “sunset” and the rise of a “new dawn” in Bengal BJP with Ghosh’s exit as state unit president, a post he has held since 2015. Ghosh left for Ladakh on Wednesday and would be back in town after the Parliament session ends on August 13.

Ghosh, also Midnapore MP, would be in Ladakh when Bengal BJP would hit the streets over fake vaccination camps in Bengal. “I am going to the Himalayas, stay there for a few days and attend Parliament from July 19,” he said.

Ghosh’s tweet came a day after he met BJP president J P Nadda in Delhi on Monday on state organization issues when chinks have appeared in Bengal BJP following Mukul Roy’s exit.

A host of state unit leaders such as Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan, former Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee and former MLA Sabyasachi Dutta had taken to social media to express their discontent over the state of affairs in Bengal BJP. Former junior Union minister Babul Supriyo was found following Trinamool accounts till he drew curtains on such speculation.

Ghosh and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari were the targets of disgruntled voices in Bengal BJP. Even as Nadda, during his last Kolkata visit after the assembly polls, called Ghosh a “capable” state president, the latter was losing his decision-making power right from the run-up to polls.

The Bengal BJP president could not even serve a show-cause notice to dissenting voices breaching party discipline but had to take the complaint to Delhi bosses.

Bengal BJP leaders refused to read much into Ghosh’s tweet. “Dilip-da is very much at the helm of Bengal BJP. He is an MP. He has to attend the Parliament session. He is going to the Himalayas for 3-4 days,” said party state general secretary Sayantan Basu.