Two days ahead of BJP national president Nitin Nabin’s visit to West Bengal, a major reshuffle has been carried out in the organisational structure of the state BJP.
In the full list announced, state president Shamik Bhattacharya, general secretary (organisation) Amitabha Chakraborty and joint general secretary (organisation) Satish Dhond occupy the top leadership positions. In a series of notifications issued today, new faces have been brought in to lead seven organisational districts, alongside changes in both Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha. The ministers who had been serving as vice-presidents of the state BJP, such as Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul and Dipak Barman, as well as Shankar Ghosh, who had been serving as a secretary, have all been removed from organisational responsibilities. Jadavpur MLA Sharvari Mukhopadhyay, who was at the centre of the Jadavpur University vandalism row, has also been axed. her removal has led to considerable speculation While there is no restriction in the BJP against MLAs holding important organisational posts. The influence of central observer Sunil Bansal is clearly visible in these new appointments. Nilanjan Adhikari and Shankar Chakraborty have been given positions as secretaries. Even the new president of the youth wing, Amit Samanta, is known to be close to Bansal. Shashi Agnihotri, Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, Soumitra Khan, Locket Chatterjee and Bapi Goswami have been appointed as general secretaries. The vice-presidents are Sanjay Singh, Prabal Raha, Anindya Banerjee, Debashree Chowdhury, Raju Bista, Amitabha Roy, Tanuja Chakraborty, Falguni Patra, Rampad Das, Vidyasagar Chakraborty, Manoj Pandey and Ananta Deb Adhikari. The secretaries are Dipanjan Guha, Mahadev Sarkar, Shakharav Sarkar, Sintu Senapati, Mohan Sharma, Vibha Majumdar, Sanjay Verma, Sonali Murmu, Ajit Das, Anal Biswas, Nilanjan Adhikari and Shankar Chakraborty. In addition, Kedarashis Bapat has been appointed treasurer, while Praveen Agarwal and Vidyasagar Mantri have been given charge as joint treasurers. Prakashchandra Das will handle the responsibilities of office secretary, with Pratyush Mondal serving alongside him as joint office secretary.
After taking charge in the state, Bansal had conducted the “Booth Sashaktikaran Abhiyan” (booth strengthening campaign), and those considered close to him and associated with the campaign have been given special prominence in the new list. Alongside Prabal Raha and Shashi Agnihotri, Rampad Das of the “Team Bansal” has been appointed as a new vice-president.
