A rally in Durgapur was rocked by violence after “New BJP” workers and “Old BJP workers” exchanged clashes over who will sit on the stage with party leaders Dilip Ghosh and Arjun Singh in Durgapur on Monday.

According to Bengali news channel ABP Ananda, the violence erupted before Ghosh and Singh’s arrival when two lobbies – consisting of the traditional BJP workers and the turncoats from other parties – confronted each other while organising for the event.

Advertisement

The verbal disputes soon led to physical clashes with the workers attacking each other with chairs and sticks. Despite repeated appeals from the local leadership, the party cadres paid no heed and stayed with savagery.

Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh and Dilip Ghosh, the party’s state president in West Bengal, were scheduled to induct a few local leaders, whom the old workers accused of running the coal mafia in the region.

Reportedly, the turncoats wanted the new party leaders to be on the stage with Ghosh and Singh which the opposite lobby refused, leading to conflict.

“We have been BJP workers for several years. We’ll not tolerate any coal mafia in BJP. There was a rule that before introducing any new member, the local ward president will have to be notified. No such procedure was followed this time,” an old party worker said.

The BJP district leadership, though, has blamed TMC for “inciting violence”. “There has been a small scuffle. We are looking into it. Out party is very disciplined,” said the party’s district secretary.

“There must have been a misunderstanding. We’ll sort everything. To disrupt today’s rally, TMC incited violence,” he added.

The development comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah left West Bengal. During his stay Shah had welcomed huge contingent of TMC defectors led by Suvendu Adhikari.

Earlier as well, there have been reports of growing power tussle between the new and old BJP camps 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 Monday’s incident has again exposed the fault line in the party. With Shah asserting that more TMC leaders will join BJP, how the saffron party censors the internal conflict remains to be seen.