West Bengal will see a high-octane clash between the ruling TMC and the BJP on Thursday as the state holds Assembly elections in two phases. Veteran BJP leader Dilip Ghosh has returned to electoral politics after leading the party as state chief during the previous polls. The BJP has fielded Ghosh as its candidate from his former constituency of Kharagpur Sadar.

“The people of Bengal have long yearned for change. The past 15 years have been particularly difficult, as the state has regressed in many aspects. Now, the citizens are ready for a transformation, and the BJP is the only viable alternative,” Ghosh told ANI during a campaign event earlier this month.

Who is Dilip Ghosh?

The veteran BJP leader began his political career as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteer. He was born near West Bengal’s Gopiballavpur in 1964 and secured his diploma in engineering from a polytechnic college.

Ghosh led the RSS in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and assisted RSS chief KS Sudarshan till 20017. He later joined the BJP as West Bengal General Secretary and became the state party president in 2015. He made his electoral debut the following year — defeating veteran Congress leader and 10-term MLA Gyan Singh Sohanpal to secure the Kharagpur Sadar seat. At the time, he was one of only three BJP MLAs in the state Assembly. Ghosh also won the Medinipur Lok Sabha seat by nearly 89,000 votes in 2019.

He was re-appointed as West Bengal BJP president in January 2020 and campaigned extensively during the 2021 Assembly elections, but did not contest himself. Ghosh was removed from his post after the party suffered a resounding defeat in the polls and appointed as national vice-president of the BJP.

Dilip Ghosh declares assets worth Rs 2 crore

According to his poll affidavit, Ghosh has declared assets of around Rs 2 crore. This includes movable assets worth Rs 28.75 lakh, and cash in hand at around Rs 3.5 lakh. His wife, Rinku Majumdar, owns movable assets worth Rs 22.98 lakh, with cash in hand of nearly Rs 50 lakh.The couple also has investments in banks and post office schemes, including fixed deposits and monthly income schemes.

The BJP’s former state unit chief had declared total assets of Rs 30.29 lakh when he first contested the assembly elections in 2016 from the same seat in Paschim Medinipur district.