West Bengal political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari along with nine MLAs of different parties and a TMC MP joined the BJP at Home Minister Amit Shahs rally in Midnapore on Saturday, ending weeks of speculations.
Mr. Adhikari, a former Minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had resigned from the primary membership of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on December 17. His resignation had come a day after he resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and almost 20 days after he resigned as a Minister.
Two-time TMC MP from Bardhaman Purba Lok Sabha constituency Sunil Mondal also joined the BJP. He has been vocal about his differences with the partys leadership over the last few days.
Among the MLAs who switched over to the BJP five are from the TMC – Banasri Maity, Silbhdrada Dutta, Biswajit Kundu, Sukra Munda and Saikat Panja.
MLA Dipali Biswas, who had won the Gajole seat in 2016 on a CPI(M) ticket but joined the TMC in 2018, was also inducted into the BJP. She has not resigned as a CPI(M) MLA.
Haldias CPI(M) MLA Tapasi Mandal, Tamluks CPI MLA Ashok Dinda and Congress MLA from Purulia Sudip Mukherjee also joined the BJP at the rally.
Former TMC MP Dasarth Tirkey also joined the BJP.
Several district-level leaders of the TMC, Left parties and the Congress, including former Minister Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, also changed sides and joined the BJP.
In an open letter addressed to the grassroots members of the Trinamool Congress, Mr. Adhikari said West Bengal was at a critical juncture as the people of the State would make a choice that would impact them for a long time, in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Mr. Adhikari said, an extremely deep rot and malaise had set in in the TMC.
Neither West Bengal nor the Trinamool Congress is anyones fiefdom, Mr. Adhikari said.
Asserting that the party was not built in one day or with the contribution of one person, he wrote that the TMC coming to power in West Bengal in 2011 was the culmination of continuous efforts of a mammoth scale.
He alleged that the TMC, built brick by brick by ordinary people, was now filled with individuals who did not bother about anyone but themselves.
