BJP TMC in war of words over number of legislators seeking to change sides

    Kolkata, Jan 14 (PTI) A fresh war of words erupted
between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress on Thursday over
their claims on the number of elected representatives who
are eager to switch sides in the run-up to the assembly polls
in West Bengal.
    BJP national general secretary and its Bengal minder
Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed in Indore that 41 MLAs of the TMC
are in touch with the saffron party.
    Reacting to it, the TMC asserted that seven BJP MPs of
the state will join the party soon.
    However, each party refused to attach much importance
to the other's claim.
    "I have a list of 41 MLAs who want to join the BJP.
If I take these legislators in the BJP's fold, the Mamata
government will fall.
    "But we are looking at who should be admitted to the
party and who should not be. We have decided that among these
legislators, we will not take those whose image is not good,"
Vijayvargiya said at his hometown.
    His comments come in the backdrop of the ongoing
exodus from the TMC to the BJP.
    "Seven BJP Lok Sabha MPs from Bengal are in touch with
us. They will join us very soon," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh
said in Kolkata.
    In the biggest exodus from the TMC in a single day,
political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, along with 35 TMC
leaders including five MLAs and an MP, switched over to the
BJP in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah last month.
    After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when the saffron camp
bagged 18 seats, nine TMC MLAs and one each from the Congress
and the CPI(M) switched over to the BJP. However, none of the
MLA has resigned as legislators. PTI PNT
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)