BJP Birbhum district president resigns

In a jolt to the BJP ahead of the upcoming civic polls in West Bengal, Birbhum district president Dudh Kumar Mondal tendered his resignation on Sunday.

Mr Mondal, considered an ace organiser, has led the BJP’s campaign in Birbhum district.

The BJP has developed a strong network of cadres and sympathisers in Birbhum, owing to Mr Mondal’s ability to take the ruling Trinamool Congress head-on in the district.

But Mr Mondal, who is also considered a strongman of the BJP in the district, claimed he was ‘disappointed’ with the party and left the party on Sunday afternoon.

“Yes I have resigned from the post of the district president. A section of the party is of the view that I am causing damage to the BJP and the party may or may not support this opinion. I have resigned for the betterment of the party,” Mr. Mondal told The Hindu .

BJP State president Rahul Sinha, however, could not be reached for comments.

His resignation came after BJP State secretary Ram Krishna Paul was heckled earlier in the day at Suri in Birbhum by angry BJP workers. They alleged that they were being ignored by the party leadership which gave undue importance to leaders who had defected from the Trinamool Congress.

However, Mr. Mondal’s relation with the BJP State leadership deteriorated over the selection of candidates for the upcoming civic polls in the district over the last few days.

Mr. Paul who went to Suri for announcing BJP’s candidate list for the Suri and Sainthia municipality, was forced to return without making the declaration due to the party workers’ agitation.

Mr. Mondal was known for his organisational skills, particularly for strengthening the party organisation to challenge the dominance of Trinamool Congress Bribhum president Anubrata Mondal.

Dudhkumar Mondal — also considered a party strongman in Birbhum — courted controversy in June last year when he reportedly said in reference to Anubrata Mondal that “if you threaten to cut off my hand would you like if we beheaded you before that? I you can burn down one house, we are capable of reducing an entire village to ashes.”

Mondal’s relation

with the BJP deteriorated over selection of candidates for upcoming civic polls