In a major setback for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, two Trinamool Congress MLAs, along with one CPI(M) lawmaker and over 50 councillors, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday. The exodus came days after the Lok Sabha elections in which the saffron party made huge gains in the state.
The two TMC MLAs who joined the BJP included BJP leader Mukul Roy's son Subhrangshu Roy who had earlier been suspended by Banerjee for his "anti-party" activities. The other two lawmakers are TMC's Tusharkanti Bhattacharya and CPI(M)'s Debendra Nath Roy.
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Thy were welcomed to the BJP by party general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya at party headquarters in New Delhi. Mukul Roy was also present.
“Like the elections were held in seven phases in West Bengal, joining in BJP will also happen in seven phases. Today was just the first phase,” said Vijayavargiya.
According to reports, 17 out of 24 members of the Kachrapara Municipality, 17 out of 24 members Halisahar Municipality and 29 out of 31 members of Naihati Municipality also joined the BJP.
The BJP has been making an all out effort to consolidate its position in West Bengal where the party is in a bitter loggerheads with the ruling TMC.
In the recently held general elections the TMC fell to 22 seats from 34, while the BJP's tally zoomed to 18 from two.
Addressing an election campaign rally in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Mdi had warned Banerjee that 40 legislators from her party were in contact with the BJP.
"Didi, on 23 May, the day of results, the lotus will bloom everywhere and your MLAs will leave you and run. Even today, Didi, 40 of your MLAs are in contact with me,” Modi had said.
BJP made huge inroads in the state after the induction of Mukul Roy—a former close aide of Banerjee—into the party in November 2017. After the induction of three legislators on Tuesday, Mukul Roy claimed: "After the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2021, TMC will not even get the opposition party position," Mukul Roy claimed.
