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Arjun Singh says more BJP leaders will join TMC soon, ‘wait & watch’
Arjun Singh said he was in touch with another BJP MP Saumitra Khan, a TMC turncoat. Khan refuted the speculations, while adding that he shared cordial terms with Singh and a few other TMC MPs
Arjun Singh, who recently made a comeback to the Trinamool Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday said many more from the saffron camp were awaiting an opportunity to switch camps.
"Many people are waiting to join the TMC (from the BJP). Just wait and see what happens," said the BJP MP, who had left the Mamata Banerjee-led party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Singh has made it clear he would not give up his membership of Parliament, until those who had moved over to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress did the same.
The Barrackpore MP said he was in touch with another BJP MP Saumitra Khan, a TMC turncoat. When asked about Khan's moves, Singh said, "Saumitra is like my younger brother. I won't comment on it now. Do you want me to reveal everything today? Just wait and watch.”
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Khan, however, refuted the speculations, while adding that he shared cordial terms with Singh and a few other TMC MPs.
“I share good relations with TMC MPs such as Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Aparupa Poddar. But I want to say that I will join the TMC the day Abhishek Banerjee leaves the party. I have vowed never to work under Abhishek Banerjee," Khan said.
Khan, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Bishnupur, had left the TMC over his differences with Abhishek Banerjee, the Bengal chief minister's nephew, who was then the TMC youth wing president.
On Sunday, Singh returned to the Trinamool Congress in the presence of Abhishek Banerjee, who said the former had rejected the divisive forces in the BJP. Soon after switching over, he said the BJP was on a decline in Bengal.
The state BJP unit had been fighting hard to keep its flock together after former union minister Babul Supriyo and five legislators, including its national vice-president Mukul Roy, switched over to the TMC since the Assembly poll results were declared in May last year.
Khan, speaking to reporters after Singh's move was made official said, the saffron camp needed to introspect.
(With agency inputs)
