Congress MLA switches over to Trinamool Kolkata

The Congress in West Bengal today continued to suffer defection blows as yet another party MLA, the fourth in the past one year, joined the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Congress MLA Saumitra Khan from Bankura's Kotulpur today switched sides to the TMC.

TMC general secretary Mukul Roy welcomed the first-time legislator into the party fold at a function here and said, "People from all over the state are joining the party."

Along with Khan, other workers of youth Congress from Asansol, Jalpaiguri and Junglemahal area also joined the party at the programme.

In the past few months, three other Congress MLAs - Humayun Kabir of Rejinagar constituency in Murshidabad district, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury of Englishbazar in Malda district and Ajoy Dey of Shantipur in Nadia district have switched allegiance to the Trinamool.

Dey, a five-time Congress MLA resigned from the Assembly a few days ago.

Since August, several opposition councillors in more than a dozen municipalities, mostly run by the Congress, have switched sides to the TMC enabling the party to gain control over them.