The BJP has kept Suvendu Adhikari out of the by-election in four Assembly constituencies scheduled to be held on 10 July.
BJP has fielded Kalyan Choubey in Maniktala, Benoy Biswas in Bagda, Manoj Kumar Biswas in Ranaghat Dakshin and Manas Kumar Ghosh in Raiganj.
BJP party insiders said the BJP high command in New Delhi are not happy with Mr Adhikari, who they felt had misinformed the party about the ground reality in Bengal. In the recently concluded general election the high command had given free hand to Mr Adhikari. Mr Adhikari changed the Lok Sabha seats of former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh and Debashree Chowdhury. Both of them lost the election. Following Mr Adhikari’s recommendation, the BJP fielded Amrita Roy from Krishnagar and Rekha Patra in Sandeshkhali. Both of them had to face defeat by huge margins.
Mr Adhikari had informed the high command that the BJP would get 35 out of 42 seats in Bengal. Based on his information, Union home minister Amit Shah had said before the election that the party would bag at least 35 seats and later he said it would get 25 seats.
After the election results were out the candidates who lost traded charges against each other and many of them blamed Mr Adhikari without naming him.
Party insiders said the central leadership has expressed concern and kept him out of the campaign for the upcoming by-election. However, he had been asked to lead the party when the Assembly is in session.