TMC MPs, MLAs ready to join us, say BJP leaders in Bengal

In the past three days, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have named at least seven Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs and MLAs, including minister of the Mamata Banerjee government, claiming that it is just a matter of time before the lawmakers from the ruling party in West Bengal resign and them.

TMC leaders have, however, rubbished the allegations, saying the BJP is taking random names to create confusion and spread propaganda with an intention to bring down the morale of the TMC workers ahead of the 2021 elections.

“It is just a matter of time before TMC leaders Subrata Mukherjee, Goutam Deb, Rabindranath Ghosh and Sourav Chakraborty switch sides. These matters will be first discussed within the (BJP) party before a decision is taken,” said Saumitra Khan, BJP MP.

While Mukherjee, Deb and Ghosh are state ministers, Chakraborty is a TMC MLA from Jalpaiguri district in north Bengal.

“Khan is day dreaming after leaving the TMC and joining the BJP himself. I will take poison but will never join a communal party like the BJP,” said Ghosh.

“Khan is rather new to politics. It is not easy to break the TMC. We were with Mamata Banerjee and would remain within the party,” said Chakraborty.

“I have my standards. Never even in my dreams can I think of joining the BJP,” said Deb.

Another BJP MP, Locket Chatterjee, claimed TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee is likely to join the BJP. But Banerjee has also rubbished the allegations.

“At least five TMC MPs could resign any moment. Saugata Roy may be speaking on behalf of the TMC in front of the camera but he would also join the list once the camera is off,” BJP MP Arjun Singh had told the media on Saturday.

“In the coming days, the BJP will form the government (in West Bengal). The day Suvendu Adhikari joins BJP; the present TMC government will not be able to remain in power. The government will fall,” he added.

While Roy had rubbished the claims as BJP propaganda and said that he would either quit politics or die but would never join the BJP, Adhikari has resigned from the Cabinet, widening his rift with the TMC.

“The BJP is engaged in a dirty politics. It is just taking random names of TMC leaders. They are naming only those from whom they are facing stiff opposition. This is propaganda,” said Kalyan Banerjee.

Buoyed by its impressive gains in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections where the BJP won 40% of the vote share in Bengal and bagged 18 out of the 42 seats in the state, the party is now eyeing the state assembly. Elections are due in 2021.