More TMC turncoats voice discontent

Two days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Mukul Roy created a stir in Bengal politics by returning to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), more ruling party turncoats, who joined the BJP in the last two years voiced discontent.

“Mukul Roy, being a senior leader, felt insulted in the BJP for various reasons. I, too, felt insulted and betrayed,” Dulal Bar, president of the BJP’s scheduled caste (SC) morcha (front), said on Sunday. “If I get an invitation from the TMC I will certainly give it a thought. I will decide my next step in case I don’t get one,” added Bar, who joined the BJP in 2019.

Bar, a former TMC legislator from Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district, was not given a ticket in the recently-concluded assembly polls. Prior to the polls, he resigned from the morcha but was somehow pacified by the leadership.

Though the BJP failed to meet its target of winning more than 200 of the state’s 294 seats and bagged only 77, the party was supported by the SC community in several parts of the state.

Another turncoat MLA, Biswajit Das, who earlier represented the Bongaon North assembly seat in North 24 Parganas, was fielded by the BJP from the district’s Bagdah seat that Bar represented. However, Das, who won the seat, on Saturday said, “I have a very cordial relationship with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee (TMC national general secretary). Time will decide my next course of action.”

“Leaving parties has become a habit for many. The BJP depends only on those who toiled and shed blood to strengthen the organisation. One has to sacrifice to stay in the BJP. Those who only want to enjoy power can’t stay. We will not keep them,” state BJP president Dilip Ghosh tweeted on Sunday afternoon.

Leader of the opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee in the polls, said he would demand action under anti-defection law if any of the 77 MLAs switched sides.

Explaining the BJP’s stand on TMC turncoats abandoning the saffron camp, state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, “We will do nothing if people such as former minister Rajib Banerjee or Sonali Guha (once a close aide of the chief minister) leave the party because they did not win elections. However, the case is quite different for elected representatives.”

“In the last 10 years, the assembly speaker did not take action under anti-defection law against any of the MLAs who left the Congress and Left parties and joined the TMC. We will not allow that. The law passed by the Parliament mandates that two-third of the elected members of a party have to join another camp to escape the law,” Majumdar added.

No TMC leader commented on the possibility of more BJP MLAs following Mukul Roy’s footsteps. The speaker, Biman Banerjee, did not take calls.

While welcoming Roy and his son, Subhranshu, a former MLA, on Friday, the chief minister said more BJP leaders will join the ruling party in the coming days. But she added a rider. “Traitors who joined the BJP before the elections for money will not be taken back. We will take back only those who do not spread bitterness,” She said.

Rajib Banerjee, who stoked speculations on Saturday by meeting TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, was seen at the funeral of senior minister Partha Chatterjee’s mother on Sunday evening.

BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra said, “It can be easily guessed why Banerjee met Kunal Ghosh but his appearance at the funeral is a different issue. He and Chatterjee are old associates.”