Kolkata, Jan 7 (AHN) As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced a 35-member new state committee in West Bengal, the party leadership explained the reasons why the two former state presidents of the party in West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar, and the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, were not provided with berths in the newly constituted state committee.

Explaining the decision, a member of the new state committee, who was also part of the earlier committee, said that according to the provisions laid down in the BJP’s party constitution, no former state president of the party can be included as a member of any newly formed state committee in due course.

Similarly, the party constitution also stipulates that no person holding a government portfolio, whether as a Cabinet Minister or as a Minister of State, can simultaneously hold any berth in a state committee.

“In the case of Ghosh and Majumdar, both are former state presidents of the BJP in West Bengal. Majumdar, in addition, is also a Union Minister of State. So naturally, by that logic and as per the party constitution, they have not been included as members in the new state committee,” the state committee member explained.

In the case of Adhikari, he added, the reason for his non-inclusion in the new state committee is more practical in nature. “As the current Leader of the Opposition, he is already burdened with many responsibilities, especially the task of being the main face of the party’s campaign for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year. In such a situation, the central leadership of the party wants him to concentrate on his current assignments instead of burdening him further with organisational responsibilities,” the state committee member said.

Following the party's “one-person, one-post” policy, it was also decided not to keep any existing legislators of the party in the new state committee this time. Accordingly, five current legislators -- Gopal Chandra Saha, Gauri Shankar Ghosh, Ashok Dinda, Laxman Ghorui and Biman Ghosh -- have been dropped from the new state committee.

However, exceptions have been made for a few current legislators, including the Chief Whip of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, fashion designer-turned-politician and party legislator Agnimitra Paul, and Dipak Burman.

The new state committee has been announced amid the arrival of the BJP’s national president and Union Minister for Health, J.P. Nadda, in Kolkata on Wednesday night. Nadda will chair a crucial meeting of the newly formed state committee on Thursday afternoon, where he is expected to outline the party’s strategy for the Assembly polls in West Bengal scheduled later this year.