Some leaders blaming WB BJP top brass for civic poll fiasco after evading responsibility: Dilip Ghosh

BJP National Vice President Dilip Ghosh on Sunday said a section of leaders who had evaded responsibilities in the past are now shifting blame on the state leadership for the party’s poor performance in the recently held civic elections. His remarks came amid claims by party MP Locket Chatterjee among other leaders that the state unit should introspect and find the reasons behind the poor show in the municipal polls and by-elections instead of just levelling vote rigging charges against the ruling TMC.

Ghosh, while talking to reporters, said, “It is easy to pass sweeping comments.

“Those who did not work on the field during polls and evaded their responsibilities are making such critical comments, blaming the party… But what have they done for the organisation in the recent times?”

He, however, refrained from taking names.

The TMC bagged 102 of the 108 municipalities that went to the polls last month. The CPI(M) and a Darjeeling-based outfit, Hamro Party, won one each while four urban bodies saw a hung house.

The ruling party with 63.45 per cent of the total votes polled emerged as the undisputed leader, with CPI(M) a distant second with 14.13 per cent of votes and BJP a close third with 12.57 per cent votes.

The saffron party had also fared poorly in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections.

Veteran BJP leader Tathagata Roy, who has often been critical of the party’s style of functioning in Bengal, recently tweeted that the state unit’s “ostrich-like behaviour” has led to its downfall.

“After the debacle in assembly polls, the BJP did not take corrective steps and instead took pride in increasing its tally from 3 to 77 in the House. This ostrich-like behaviour has resulted in the near decimation of the party in municipal elections,” he had claimed.