Clamour for Dilip as MLA candidate from Durgapur grows louder
The Statesman | 7 January 2026
Repeated posts on social networks by a BJP district committee member in West Burdwan demanding Dilip Ghosh as a party candidate in Durgapur has embarrassed the saffron party that already has an elected MLA from the industrial town.
The consecutive Facebook posts by Abhijit Bhattacharya, a district committee member of the BJP in West Burdwan shocked BJP and the party’s state committee leader Lakshman Ghorui, who incidentally is the sitting MLA of Durgapur (Paschim). He vented his anger and reacted sharply against Bhattacharya, his party’s district committee leader. Ghorui blamed that Bhattacharya’s posts were made purposely to facilitate the Trinamul Congress. Ghorui said: “No BJP member or leader can make such an irresponsible and irrelevant post. Only a TMC agent can make such deliberate nuisances.”
The TMC, meanwhile, has mocked the BJP and party’s block president in Durgapur, Ujjawal Mukherjee said: “We don’t need to inspire any BJP man to make such posts. The BJP is already a deleted chapter in people’s minds here.”
Bhattacharya’s today’s post read: “We want a substitute candidate for Durgapur (Paschim) seat. So, bye bye Dada…”. The post was aimed at Ghorui – the sitting MLA from BJP. Bhattacharya later said: “Dilip Da, as most of the BJP supporters and cadres believe, would be the fittest candidate for Durgapur (Paschim). We all want him here.”
Asked why Ghosh is a preference against Ghorui, Bhattacharya said: “Uncountable cadres like me suffered severe mental depression after Dilip Da was defeated here in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Even today, we can’t accept this. Now, it’s our moral responsibility to secure his victory in Durgapur.”
Ghosh was pitted against Trinamul Congress’s Kirti Azad by the BJP for Bardhaman Durgapur parliamentary seat and he was defeated by a margin of 1.38 lakh votes where BJP’s Surinder Singh Ahluwalia had won by a margin of meagre 2,439 votes in 2019. Dilip’s vote share in Durgapur segments of the Lok Sabha constituency was larger than Azad’s, but Azad’s share surpassed in Bardhaman segments.
Bhattacharya’s post incidentally was inspired by Ghosh’s recent return to the BJP’s mainstream politics. A section of his followers wants him in Kharagpur Sadar, where an actor-politician Hiran Chatterjee is the sitting MLA. Ghosh however hasn’t passed any definite comment on the developments centring around him as yet.