West Bengal Govt under debt of crores of rupees, says former TMC MLA

Newly-inducted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Arindam Bhattacharya on Thursday said the TMC-led West Bengal government, which is under a debt of several lakh crores of rupees, has been misleading the people.

Speaking to ANI, Bhattacharya said, "There has been no industrialisation for a long time. The TMC government is under ₹5 lakh crore debt. They are taking loans to pay off loans. They are even taking loans to pay interest. How will development take place?"

While saying that development of Bengal is the only reason behind his joining BJP, he accused TMC of misleading the people.

"There is a nexus of criminals with the administration in West Bengal. It is very difficult to work for people being in this system. So the system needs to be changed according to the people's demand," claimed Bhattacharya.

He said the youth of Bengal have big dreams and they want employment.

"The TMC government pushes the youth to political violence and antisocial activities. It is time to stop this trend," added the BJP leader.

On Rohingya issue, Bhattacharya said, "The inclusion of Rohingyas in the voter list is a big threat to our constitutional set up. There are chances of inclusion of the Rohingyas in the border areas. If Dilip Ghosh is saying this and the issue has been raised before the Election commission, then there must a detailed report."

Arindam Bhattacharya joined the BJP on Wednesday in presence of party's national general secretary and in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya at the BJP Headquarters in Delhi.

Notably, prior to TMC, Bhattacharya was an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) on Congress ticket.

There has been an exodus of leaders and workers from the ruling TMC to BJP in poll-bound West Bengal in the recent months. In December 2020, former TMC heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari joined BJP at a rally in Midnapore in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.