Ex-Union minister John Barla attends Mamata Banerjee’s meet, sparks speculation

TMC office bearers have been meeting Union minister John Barla since the BJP denied him the ticket for last year’s Lok Sabha polls, prompting him to distance himself from the party

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister John Barla attended an administrative meeting of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, sparking speculation about his plan to join West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (X)

“Mamata Banerjee came here because she wants development of this region. She called me,” Barla told journalists.

Banerjee and Barla exchanged pleasantries before the meeting in North Bengal’s Alipurduar district. Wait and see, Barla said when asked about his plan to join TMC.

TMC leaders, bureaucrats, and locals attended the meeting like all administrative meetings Banerjee holds in districts.

Barla, a tribal leader, represented the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat from 2019 to 2024. TMC office bearers have been meeting him since the BJP denied him the ticket for last year’s Lok Sabha polls, prompting him to distance himself from the party. He challenged BJP party for not fielding him for the second time from the seat reserved for tribals.

In November, Barla posed with Jay Prakash Toppo, the TMC candidate for the Madarihat assembly by-poll in Alipurduar. Barla did not campaign for Rahul Lohar, the BJP candidate for the by-poll, which Toppo won.

In the 2021 assembly polls, BJP bagged 30 of the 54 seats in the eight north Bengal districts. TMC overall won 215 of the state’s 294 seats.