The West Bengal BJP on Monday rejected the viral claim that 17 of the 20 ex-Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs from the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) would join the BJP-led NDA at around the Durga Puja in October.
According to state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, "no one" linked to the TMC would be joining the saffron party now, or in the near future.
"People have not forgotten the atrocities of Trinamool. Now some MPs have come together to form a new party. They have supported the NDA, we welcome them. But no one is joining the BJP," he clarified, as per a TV9 Bangla report.
The explosive claim about the NCPI MPs, who had earlier staged a 'Ritabrata-model' exit from the Mamata camp of the TMC, was made by one such MP from Cooch Behar, Jagadish Chandra Basunia.
Though the 20-MP bloc is already alligned with the NDA, the news of the defection caused ripples across West Bengal's political spectrum.
"We are 17 MPs going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be moving, the anti-defection law will not apply to us," Basunia said.
He added that the remaining three MPs—Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman and Yusuf Pathan—would not formally join the BJP, citing the political and administrative dynamics in their constituencies. However, they would continue to extend support to the NDA from the outside, as the NCPI MPs do now.
The state BJP chief's comments come amid growing anger over the closeness of BJP MPs with their NCPI counterparts. If the NCPI MPs were to join the NDA as well, it is expected to hurt the party's core vote bank, which is said to be the reason that Bhattacharya stepped in to clarify Basunia's comments.
"Those who killed 56 BJP workers in 27 days after May 2, 2021, gang-raped 200 BJP women workers, demolished houses with JCBs, spat on them, shaved their heads, sent them home with fines, and expelled boys from auto-toto stands—the BJP has not forgotten these. Therefore, there is no reason to think that all these sins will be erased by taking the BJP flag in hand," he added.
