Ex-Trinamool leader joins BJP, does squats to 'atone past sins’

Several local leaders of the ruling party in Bengal, who were loyal to Adhikari, have jumped ship and joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections in the state.

A former Trinamool Congress leader on Thursday did squats on stage moments after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal’s Purbo Medinipur district, saying it was an attempt to "atone past sins" during his tenure with the ruling party. Supporters of the BJP shouted slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram' as Sushanta Pal did squats on stage during a rally, news agency PTI reported.

Pal also alleged that the TMC did not allow free and fair panchayat polls in 2018 and occupied the local bodies by force. (AFP File Photo)

"This is atonement for my sins when I was with the tyrant TMC, and had to follow whimsical and anti-people orders of the top leadership. I regret it now," Pal, a loyalist of TMC turncoat Suvendu Adhikari, was quoted as saying by PTI.

Pal also alleged that the TMC did not allow free and fair panchayat polls in 2018 and occupied the local bodies by force. “I have joined the BJP as I was feeling claustrophobic. I wanted to protest but my voice was muzzled,” he said, according to PTI.

The leaders of the Trinamool Congress dismissed Pal’s allegations. “Pal had been stripped of all responsibilities four years back. He is now indulging in 'dramebaaji' (theatrics) at the behest of the BJP,” Ajit Maity, the district unit president of TMC, said.

Several local leaders of the ruling party in Bengal, who were loyal to Adhikari, have jumped ship and joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections in the state. Dozens of legislators from the TMC and a sitting member of Parliament of the ruling camp, including Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, Sovan Chatterjee and Jitendra Tiwari, have switched over to the BJP over the past few months.

Elections in Bengal, where the BJP is aiming to form a government in the state for the first time and the TMC is looking to win for the third time, will be held in eight phases, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27. Votes will be counted on May 2. The BJP’s state unit chief Dilip Ghosh said on Thursday said his party will win by 200 of of the 294 assembly seats in West Bengal. "We will not get less than 200 (seats). It will definitely be more than 200. We did not begin preparations today, we had started five years back," Ghosh said while speaking about the BJP vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.