New party launched in West Bengal

Former Trinamool Congress MP and Kolkata Port Trust chairman Bikram Sarkar launched the Bharatiya Bahujan Party (BBP) to fill up “emerging political space left by Trinamool Congress and CPI(M).’’

Sarkar, who was known as a ‘giant killer’ after defeating CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta from Panskura for a Lok Sabha seat in 1999, told DNA, “We would like to focus on socio-economic problems so far not addressed by either CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress.’’

Criticising the CPI(M), Sarkar has said that the party has crippled Bengal and pushed the state into economic and political quagmire.