Five leaders of Trinamool Congress, including three MLAs, on Saturday left for New Delhi and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The list includes Rajib Banerjee, former Forest Minister; Vaishali Dalmiya, MLA from Bally; and, Prabir Kumar Ghosal, MLA from Uttarpara. While Mr. Banerjee has resigned as an MLA and from the State’s Cabinet the Trinamool Congress has suspended Vaishali Dalmiya. The other two leaders are Rathin Chakraborty, former Mayor of Howrah Municipal Corporation; and Parthasarathi Chattopadhyay, former MLA from Ranaghat Paschim.
All these leaders were taken to Delhi in a special aircraft during the day. Photographs and video of the five TMC leaders meeting Mr. Shah at his residence was made public at the party. The Home Minister handed the BJP symbol to the TMC leaders. The defecting TMC leaders were accompanied BJP vice president Mukul Roy and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
All these leaders were publicly voicing discontent against the Trinamool Congress and were to join the BJP during Union Home Minister visit to State. The visit was rescheduled at the eleventh hour because of a low intensity explosion near Israeli Embassy in New Delhi on Friday. This is the second biggest defection, which the Trinamool Congress leadership has to grapple in the past two months. Last year, on December 19, former minister Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP along with half a dozen of MLAs of the ruling party.
“Today all of us we have accepted the membership of BJP from the Home Minister,” Mr. Banerjee told journalists after meeting Mr. Shah and joining the party. Mr. Banerjee said that he had raised issues concerning West Bengal like law and order, unemployment and also special package for the State. RudranilGhosh, a well-known Bengali actor also joined the BJP with the TMC leaders.
The development assumes significance in poll bound West Bengal as the ruling TMC has not been able to prevent defections from the party. TMC leadership said thattheirs is a democratic party and leaders can join or leave at will. “We do not use military to prevent those leaving. But people are watching everything,” TMC leader and State’s Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
BJP rally at Howrah
These leaders who met the Home Minister will also be present at a public rally at Dumurjolastadium in Howrah district on Sunday. UnionMinister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani will be present at the rally in Howrah where other TMC leaders are likely to formally join the BJP. Earlier Mr Shah was scheduled to address the BJP rally at Howrah. The Home Minister may virtually address the rally.
