Arjun Singh, 57, who joined BJP on Thursday, is the second MLA from TMC to do so after Manjul Krishna Thakur, who was a minister.
Four-time Trinamool Congress MLA from Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas, Arjun Singh, 57, who joined BJP on Thursday, is the second MLA from TMC to do so after Manjul Krishna Thakur, who was a minister.
Singh's move is being seen as a big win for BJP with the help of Roy. In the recent past party MP Soumitra Khan from Bishnupur in Bankura district and another MP from Bolpur in Birbhum district, Anupam Hazra too had defected to BJP.
Roy had also engineered the defection of CPM MLA Khag-en Murmu and Congress MLA Dulal Chandra Bar recently.
Speculations of Singh joining BJP were afoot after TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee announced the party list of candidates for the LS polls on Tuesday. Singh had been expecting a ticket from Barrackpore from where Mamata has fielded sitting MP Dinesh Trivedi.
"Singh's joining proves that Mamata Raj in Bengal is coming to an end. You have seen Mahabharata. Arjun is now in BJP. Soumitra Khan, Anupam Hazra, have all joined BJP. This is a trailer. The entire film is yet to be released," Roy said.
Asked why he had decided to join BJP, Singh said, "I have worked for Mamata for 30 years but when 40-42 jawans died in Pulwama, and there was a counter air-strike as was expected by Modi, Mamata raised questions on whether people were really killed. I was hurt and was wondering who I had been supporting. The 'Maa Mati Manush' party is now about money money money. They are only concerned about their vote bank."
He maintained that many councillors of Bhatpara Municipality, of which is he is the chairman, would follow suit.
Interestingly, North 24 Parganas TMC district president Jyotipriyo Mullick called a meeting with councillors of Bhatpara Municipality but of 33 councillors, only 19 attended.
Rout joins BJP
- Senior Odisha neta Damodar Rout, who had served as minister in Naveen Patnaik govt, joined the BJP Thursday. Rout was expelled from BJD after he brought a slew of graft allegations against the BJD govt
- BJD MP Balabhadra Majhi too quit party on Thursday claiming he was ignored and cheated
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