Less than 24 hours of the visit by the party’s fact-finding team probing post-violence in West Bengal on the instructions of party president Jagat Prakash Nadda, the Bharatiya Janata Party today issued a show-cause notice to Abhijit Das (Bobby), who was the party candidate from Diamond Harbour against Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. Das, however, claimed that he had not received any letter or email from the party. Diamond Harbour has seen widespread violence against BJP karyakartas and hundreds have been forced to flee their homes.
The central fact-finding team, comprising party Lok Sabha member and former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, former director-general of police of Uttar Pradesh and current Rajya Sabha member Brijlal and the party’s member of the Upper House in Parliament, Kabita Patidar, reached Kolkata on Sunday evening. For the last two days, they have toured different pockets of Cooch Behar, Baruipur and Diamond Harbour and have interacted with the victims of post-poll violence
Yesterday, when the team was visiting different pockets at Diamond Harbour which was hit by post-poll violence, they faced protests by a section of local workers at Amtala in South 24 Parganas district.
The protesters claimed that the party leadership had neglected the plight of the party workers who have become homeless since the counting process ended on June 4.
“We have come to know that the protesters were also close confidants of Das. So, he has been issued a show-cause notice where he has been asked to give a reply within the next seven days. Till further orders from the high command, his membership from the party has also been temporarily terminated,” a senior state leader of the party said. Das’s membership has also been “temporarily suspended”, he added.
Das had however denied any involvement in the protests.
“Yesterday, when the central team came to Diamond Harbour, I was having a procedure done at a dentist’s chamber. The team came and spoke to the karyakartas who had to flee home due to the Trinamool’s atrocities. Some local journalists showed me a letter purportedly written by the State BJP. I am a member of the party’s central committee. The state unit cannot show-cause me.”
The party’s state president in West Bengal and Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar however confirmed the development and said that action has been initiated against Das on disciplinary grounds.
Das also said: “It is surprising to see that the letter has been given to the media before sending it to the intended receiver. If not an expulsion letter, then any kind of show-cause letter cannot be shared in public. Those who have done this must be issued a show-cause notice as well”.
Das, the former president of BJP for the South 24 Parganas district, is also accused of not attending a party meeting on Tuesday and creating a rift within the local party unit.
Das lost the Lok Sabha election from Diamond Harbour by a margin of 7.1 lakh votes amid allegations of widespread rigging.
