Kolkata: Barrackpore BJP MLA Kaustuv Bagchi faced protests from workers of his own party in Noapara, the assembly constituency of state transport minister Arjun Singh on Friday, further intensifying the feud within the party’s Barrackpore organisational unit.
Reacting to Friday’s incident, Bagchi said the protesters were Trinamool activists who had joined BJP after assembly election results were declared on May 4.
Claiming that he had no personal enmity with Singh, Bagchi said genuine BJP workers had no objection to his remarks. However, members of the Arjun Singh-led faction were seen visiting the residence of one such neta with sweets to exchange Bijoya greetings. However, in an apparent veiled attack on Singh, he added, “nobody should mistake my tolerance for weakness. I didn’t switch BJP after failing to secure a ticket from another party.”
Earlier, Bagchi had threatened to set himself on fire outside the BJP party office if certain netas, especially those from Trinamool, were inducted into BJP.
As his car approached the exit, the protesters staged a demonstration and chanted slogans against Bagchi while showing him ‘Go Back’ placards.
Bagchi had earlier publicly criticised Arjun after photographs emerged showing the minister with people accused in the murder of BJP’s Manish Shukla. On Friday, a group of local BJP workers gathered outside the National Agricultural and Jute Research Centre in Noapara’s Nilganj, where Bagchi had gone to attend a programme.