After issuing a showcause notice against Sayantan Basu, the state general secretary in West Bengal, BJP on Wednesday handed a similar fate to Mahila Morcha leader Agnimitra Paul.

While Basu was asked to explain for his “anti-party statements”, the fashion designer-tuned-politician’s notice didn’t carry a reason for the showcause.

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However, it is being widely believed that the leaders were served the notices because of their apprehension against the possibility of TMC leader Jitendra Tiwari joining BJP.

Both Basu and Paul had openly expressed their dissatisfaction after rumours went rife that Pandeshwar MLA Tiwari would defect to the saffron camp following his resignation from TMC.

Apart from the tainted two, BJP’s Asansol MP Babul Supriyo and state president in West Bengal Dilip Ghosh had also aired concern against the introduction of Tiwari.

So much so that Supriyo posted a video on his Facebook timeline, saying that he would not wholeheartedly accept the TMC leader.

No notice has been served either to Ghosh, the Midnapore MP, or Supriyo, the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in the Union Council of Ministers.

Even though Tiwari – the Asansol Municipal Corporation’s outgoing Mayor – stayed short from switching camps, the conflict in Bengal BJP has oftentimes been exposed ever since the party went on an overdrive to induct turncoat politicians from other parties.

Several incidents of dispute between “original BJP workers” and “new BJP workers” were reported earlier this week. Posters in Gaighata region of West North 24 Parganas district unearthed the internal tussle in the Hindutva brigade.

On Monday, a BJP event to induct TMC cadres and workers in Durgapur was rocked by violence after the old workers opposed the introduction, accusing the newcomers of running coal mafia.

These developments have come after Home Minister Amit Shah’s fervent tour of West Bengal. During his stay, Shah had welcomed a huge contingent of TMC defectors led by Suvendu Adhikari.

Earlier as well, there were been reports of growing scrimmage between the new and old BJP camps due to the party’s inorganic growth ahead of Assembly Elections in West Bengal in 2021.

On his two day tour of the poll-bound state, Shah had categorically asked BJP’s Bengal leadership to be united in their fight against Mamata Banerjee.

But the recent bangarangs have laid bare the fault line in the party. With Shah asserting that more TMC leaders will join BJP in the upcoming days, how the party censors the internal conflict remains to be seen.