Sabyasachi Dutta back in TMC: Party MP says workers aggrieved by return of those who insulted Mamata
“I took an emotional decision and joined the BJP after some misunderstanding with my colleagues. I will earnestly serve the TMC in whatever role it gives me,” Dutta said after joining the TMC
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday saw rumblings after Sabyasachi Dutta, former legislator from Rajarhat-New Town constituency, returned to the party fold after spending over two years in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Our workers feel aggrieved when people who insulted Mamata Banerjee in the recent assembly polls make a comeback. Isn’t it natural that sincere party workers will feel disappointed to see people returning to become leaders again after opposing us till the other day,” TMC’s senior Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy said without naming anyone.
Dutta, who was one of the state secretaries of the BJP, rejoined the TMC at parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee’s chamber in the state assembly, shortly after West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath of office to party chief Mamata Banerjee and two others -- Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam -- as legislators. They won the polls held on September 30.
“I took an emotional decision and joined the BJP after some misunderstanding with my colleagues. I will earnestly serve the TMC in whatever role it gives me,” Dutta said after joining the TMC. Transport minister Firhad Hakim was also present on the occasion.
“This is homecoming for Sabyasachi,” said Chatterjee.
Meanwhile, without taking Dutta’s name, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh took a dig at the BJP. “Let the BJP realise the effect of welcoming someone amid great hype and making him a state committee secretary. Did BJP think that it could win polls in Salt Lake? People who have realised that they have no existence outside the TMC and cannot survive without Mamata Banerjee’s shelter are coming back. This will make everyone understand that TMC is the only force to reckon with. It has no alternative,” said Ghosh.
Dutta, who joined the BJP soon after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, had been maintaining distance from the party since the March-April assembly elections, in which the TMC won 213 seats while the BJP had to settle for only 77 seats.
On Wednesday, Dutta stoked speculations of switching sides when he criticised BJP’s former state president Dilip Ghosh for his comment on the Lakhimpur Kheri killings. Later, BJP state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar described Dutta as an opportunist.
“Probably he came to the BJP looking for lucrative opportunities and found that our party does not allow its members to make fortunes,” said Majumdar.
Dutta is the sixth leader to return to the TMC since June.
On September 4, Soumen Roy, BJP legislator from Kaliaganj in north Bengal, joined the TMC. Others to return to the party fold include Tanmay Ghosh, who won the Bishnupur seat in Bankura district, Biswajit Das, MLA from Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district, and Mukul Roy, former BJP national vice-president and MLA from Krishnanagar North seat in Nadia district.
Krishna Kalyani, BJP legislator from Raiganj in the North Dinajpur district of north Bengal, on October 1 announced that he was quitting the party, triggering speculations of him joining the state’s ruling party.
Kalyani, an industrialist, who stepped into politics by joining the BJP in January this year, has been speaking against the leadership for quite some time.
