After several instances of conflicts in opinion with other state BJP leaders and his recent meeting with TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee is likely to be expelled from the BJP, said party sources.
Rajib Banerjee, a Trinamul turncoat, joined the BJP just before the Assembly polls but following the defeat of the saffron brigade in Bengal, he began making comments against the opinions of BJP leaders and was cautioned twice for anti-party activities. Rajib, however, continues to dissent from party directives.
Sources in the BJP claim that it is only to be a matter of time before he is expelled from the party. The immediate reason, sources said, was his meeting with TMC’s national General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, at the latter’s South Kolkata office on Saturday evening.
It is learnt that Rajib was served several show-cause notices for his “anti-party activities” but he is said to have ignored them and refused to answer. Sources said his secret meetings with opposition party leaders are being termed as antiparty stances and hence the BJP is supposedly determined to expel him. A major decision will be announced, sources said, within a week or two.
The move to expel him is also being considered an “appropriate action” to save the party from humiliation which it fears will take place if Rajib quits the party before being expelled. It is learnt that details surrounding the decision to expel him have been sent to the party high command in New Delhi. Now, the members of the disciplinary committee are just waiting for the green signal from them.
Banerjee was a minister in the previous TMC government and an MLA from the Domjur Assembly seat in Howrah. He re-contested for the seat in the 2021 assembly polls but lost. Soon after his defeat, he began exuding anti-party behaviour and refrained from party meetings.
…With IANS inputs