‘Himachal in reverse gear’
Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal had been the health minister in the party-led government from 2007 to 2012.
BJP MP Saumitra Khan has announced Dilip Ghosh’s name as party’s Chief Ministerial face for the upcoming West Bengal State Assembly Elections.
The development has come at a time when the saffron party has expressed reluctance in declaring a CM candidate ahead of the much-talked-about state polls.
At a rally in West Midnapore’s Deuli Village, Khan said, “The Trinamool Congress will lose the election and BJP will come to power. Dilip Ghosh will be our chief minister.”
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“I can say this firmly that the way Dilip Ghosh is leading as our party president in West Bengal, he will definitely become the chief minister one day. He has sacrificed his family and pleasures of life to serve people. He will be the chief minister,” the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief in West Bengal added.
Meanwhile, Ghosh reacted by saying that it was Khan’s show of respect for him. “He has said that because he feels I should be the CM since I’m the party’s state president.”
“It goes on to show that my workers are behind me. Someone may be sad but my workers have shown their respect for me.
However, it was not clear if Khan’s remark reflected the official stand of the party. BJP’s state and central leadership have time and again dodged questions about their face against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
During his visit to the poll-bound state last month, Home Minister Amit Shah had hinted that BJP’s CM candidate will not be an “outsider”. But he had stopped short of revealing the name.
“Does she want a country where people from one state will not visit another? Did she call Indira Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, Narasimha Rao outsiders when they used to come to West Bengal? But don’t worry, no one from Delhi will come to defeat you. Someone from Bengal will challenge you and be the next CM of the state,” Shah had said.
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