TMC Nowpara MLA Sunil Singh along with 12 councillors are set to join the BJP in New Delhi. (ANI)In another blow to the Trinamool Congress, its Nowpara MLA Sunil Singh along with 12 councillors joined the BJP in New Delhi on Monday in presence of leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy. Singh will be the third legislator to desert the ruling party in West Bengal after BJP made deep inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Public in West Bengal wants ‘Sab ka Saath, Sabka Vikas‘. In Delhi, there is Modi ji’s government and we want the same government to be formed in the state so that we can develop West Bengal,” Singh told ANI.
Singh is the MLA from Nowpara of North 24 Parganas and brother-in-law of BJP’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who had himself switched sides from the TMC ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Sunil Singh is also the chairperson of TMC-run Garulia municipality.
North 24 Parganas is at the centre of this mass exodus from TMC because all rebels are from the district. Once a TMC bastion, the district is slowly witnessing a saffron surge. Importantly, the district, of which the northern suburbs of Kolkata are a part, is home to BJP leader Mukul Roy, who wields influence among local leaders.
The development comes weeks after BJP welcomed into its fold three Bengal MLAs, including Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu Roy, and more than 60 councillors, a majority from the TMC.
Besides Roy, the MLAs who had joined BJP on May 29 were Tushar Kanti Bhattacharya, who had crossed over to the TMC from Congress, and, Debendra Nath Roy of CPM. A day later, another TMC MLA Monirul Islam joined the saffron party.
BJP general secretary and its West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy had then said more MLAs from the TMC would join the saffron party in the coming days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an election speech in the state, had said that over 40 TMC legislators were in touch with the BJP.
