Kolkata: The Bengal BJP leadership has been left uneasy by the feud between two prominent netas from the Matua Thakurbari family — Union minister Shantanu Thakur and his elder brother Subrata Thakur, party's Gaighata MLA — ahead of the Assembly elections and decided against taking sides in public.
"It is a family feud and the party will not interfere. They are mature enough to handle such situations. It will be resolved soon," Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said.
"Subrata is an MLA and Shantanu is a Union minister. Both are indispensable to us. The party cannot be seen taking sides in a family matter. We hope the brothers resolve it themselves," said a senior BJP leader in the Bongaon organisational district. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataBhattacharya and the leader of opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, have reportedly advised party functionaries to remain mum on the matter.
The political feud, however, refused to ebb on Monday. Subrata again spoke out against Shantanu, accusing him of being "blinded by greed and arrogance of power.
" He alleged that Shantanu blackmailed BJP into granting him a ministerial berth by threatening to join TMC.
"He told BJP that he would join TMC if he wasn't made a minister. That's how he blackmailed the party," Subrata said. The MLA also accused Shantanu of trying to sideline him politically to pave the way for his wife to contest from Gaighata in the Assembly elections next year.
Shantanu dismissed the allegations, saying his brother was jealous of him. "The only reason is envy — why did Shantanu rise higher, why did he become a minister while Subrata couldn't? That's the root cause," the minister said. He also hinted that his brother might defect to TMC to become a minister.
According to sources, this is not the first time the Thakurbari clan is witnessing a political rift. Earlier, the families of Kapil Krishna Thakur (late TMC MP and husband of current Rajya Sabha member Mamata Bala Thakur) and Manjul Krishna Thakur (father of Shantanu and Subrata) had split politically.
When asked about the growing discord in the family, BJP's state general secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay downplayed the matter. "This is a family dispute. It has nothing to do with BJP. It's simply a clash between two brothers, which may well be resolved. We have no knowledge of any blackmailing," he said.