Knot today? Saffron camp abuzz with ‘news’ of BJP veteran Dilip getting hitched to colleague
Times of India | 18 April 2025
1234 Kolkata: Bengal BJP circles were abuzz on Thursday with "news" of former state unit president and ex-Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh tying the knot with party women's wing veteran Rinku Majumdar.
The ceremony, BJP seniors said, was likely to take place at a New Town condo on Friday. They were also trying to reach out to Ghosh "to understand the reasons for his personal decision", they added.
For the 60-year-old Ghosh, who joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1984 and was "loaned" to BJP in 2014, this would be his first marriage. There is likely to be a private registry at his New Town home on Friday with a bigger reception planned later in Kharagpur, his hometown.
BJP's finest hour in Bengal — when it won 18 of the state's 42 LS seats — came in 2019, when Ghosh was the state BJP chief. He also won the Midnapore LS seat for his party that year but was shunted to the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat in 2024; he lost that fight. Ghosh is in the run to be the state party chief again, say BJP seniors, adding that the timing of his decision has left them blindsided.
Ghosh did not respond to repeated calls and Majumdar could not be reached. But she acknowledged congratulatory messages from newspersons earlier on Thursday with a "Thank You"; she also added that she would speak to the media on Sunday.
State BJP seniors did not speak on "a private matter" publicly but, within party circles, Ghosh's decision created a minor storm. "The party leadership is aware of the developments. They will speak to Dilip da. Some are surprised by his decision but some others have congratulated him heartily," a BJP senior said.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, however, took to X to wish Ghosh. "My personal wishes to Dilip Ghosh. Please do not try to find politics in this," he posted.
Party seniors said Ghosh first met Rinku Majumdar when he was the state BJP president and she was active in the party's women's wing and was tasked with looking after the Kolkata (South) constituency. Majumdar, mother of a 26-year-old son from a previous marriage, has been by Ghosh's side since then. "She has been a pillar of support for Ghosh, particularly since when he was shifted unceremoniously from his ‘safe' Midnapore seat to Bardhaman-Durgapur at a week's notice," a BJP leader said. Ghosh's immediate family, including his ailing mother, has been supportive of the union.
Ghosh, who has often bulldozed his way into the news cycle by seemingly intemperate outbursts, has been an RSS-BJP loyalist through and through. He did his polytechnic from Jhargram and served RSS in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 1999 to 2007. He worked with former RSS chief K S Sudarshan before being "loaned" to BJP in 2014. Ghosh's first electoral success came in 2016, when he defeated 10-time Congress MLA Gyan Singh Sohanpal from Kharagpur.