BJP ex-Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh urges party to consider new names for state head

Kolkata, Mar 18 (PTI) Former West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday said the party should contemplate new names for the post of its state president.

Ghosh said elections to the post of the Bengal BJP chief, which is held every three years, will commence soon.

"I have completed my innings. I have been president twice," he told reporters outside the assembly, after meeting Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and other party MLAs.

"New names should be contemplated," Ghosh said, adding, the new president will be elected in a democratic manner.

Asked whether he was ready to play a third innings, he said, "A player should be prepared to play in every pitch and ground." Ghosh's meeting with Adhikari and other BJP MLAs in the assembly comes in the backdrop of the impending election for a new state president of the BJP in West Bengal.

A former MP, Ghosh had lost from the Asansol constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leader said he comes to the assembly almost every session to meet the party legislators.

With the assembly polls scheduled to be held in 2026, Ghosh said he will be present in party programmes with Adhikari, as well as alone.

"All of us, including the state president of the party, will hit the streets (ahead of the assembly polls)," he said.

Ghosh also said he would participate in programmes celebrating Ram Navami in the state to encourage the Hindu community to observe the occasion.

He said attempts to disrupt Ram Navami celebrations had been made in the past, both in West Bengal and in other states, including some BJP-ruled ones.

Ghosh, however, asserted that such attempts will ultimately not succeed. PTI AMR RBT