Trinamool MP joins BJP, says West Bengal lacks democracy

NEW DELHI: With Lok Sabha elections around the corner, Trinamool Congress lost two MPs to rival BJP. Saumitra Khan, who represented the Bishnupur constituency in West Bengal joined BJP on Wednesday and Bolpur MP Anupam Hazra is expected to follow in the same lines.
For Khan, BJP would be his third party as he was with Congress, before joining TMC.

TMC expelled both MPs from the party, soon after Khan joined BJP in the presence of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan here at the BJP headquarters. Both Khan and Hazra were close to former TMC leader Mukul Roy, who had joined BJP in 2017.

Both Khan and Hazra are learnt to have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier, along with Mukul Roy. BJP has been banking on Roy to pocket TMC candidates for electoral contests.

According to sources, Khan and Hazra had already learnt that they would not be getting to contest on TMC ticket in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The buzz about Khan and Hazra moving over to BJP was doing the rounds since the last monsoon session of Parliament.

BJP, which has two MPs from the state, SS Ahluwalia (Darjeeling) and Babul Supriyo (Asansol), was on the lookout for known faces to contest for the Lok Sabha polls as the party is aggressively trying to improve its tally in the state. According to political experts both Asansol and Darjeeling have become difficult seats for the sitting MPs.

Since BJP lacks faces in Bengal, the party’s best bet is to poach sitting MPs, which will damage the ruling TMC in the 42 seats state.

Khan, who joined BJP following a meeting with party president Amit Shah, lashed out at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that there was no democracy but “police raj” in the state. The 38-year-leader said he has faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the PM would bring about a change in the state. “There is no democracy in the state. People cannot vote. Police raj is there,” he told reporters at a press conference here.

Pradhan claimed that the development marked the changing politics of the state, saying the BJP's acceptance and credibility were at an “all-time high” in eastern India as the Modi government had given the region a priority in its agenda of growth and progress. “There is an atmosphere in favour of BJP. Eastern India will provide a strong pillar for the government's return to power at the Centre,” Pradhan said.

BJP has identified the state as one of the priority states and party chief Amit Shah has set a target of 22 seats, even as BJP leaders claim that the hope is to improve the tally from two to 10 seats.

Speaking in Kolkata, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said, “We have decided to expel both Anupam Hazra and Saumitra Khan for anti-party activities.”