Kolkata: Ending months' worth of speculation, five of the miffed former leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) -- Rajib Banerjee, Rathin Chakraborty, Baishali Dalmiya, Prabir Ghoshal, and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee -- along with Bengali actor Rudranil Ghosh, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Saturday and defected to the BJP in national capital Delhi.
The individuals were earlier slated to defect to the saffron camp during the Home Minister's rally in West Bengal.
After a 45-minute-long closed-door meeting with Shah, where the Union Home Minister detailed their new responsibilities for the party, the leaders defected to the BJP.
Talking to the Free Press Journal, newly-defected BJP leader Baishali Dalmiya said she will now get the due respect that she was deprived of during her time at the Trinamool Congress.
“Now we all can work for the benefit of the people. BJP gives respect to everyone. Amit Shah had booked a chartered flight for us. This shows the dignity of the BJP. We had to face several hurdles to work. Now, we will not tolerate any mistakes done by the ruling Trinamool Congress,” mentioned Dalmiya, adding that she will, first of all, complete the work that she had started at her Bally Assembly Constituency.
According to BJP sources, Shah, along with the newly defected leaders, will be addressing the Dumurjala rally on Sunday.
Notably, earlier on this day, in order to defect to the saffron camp, all the former TMC leaders flew for Delhi along with BJP West Bengal observer Kailash Vijaywargiya and BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy, via a special flight sent by Shah.
Before boarding the flight, former West Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjee said that he will keep a host of requests in front of the Union Home Minister so that he can continue working for the common people of West Bengal.
“Though the ruling Trinamool Congress had worked for the people initially, but later we were facing hurdles. I will first talk to Amit Shah and tell him my plans to continue working for the people,” mentioned Banerjee expressing his sadness for quitting the Trinamool Congress.
Claiming that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a ‘nice person’, Uttarpara MLA Prabir Ghoshal claimed that people surrounding the Chief Minister are, however, not so good themselves.
According to BJP sources, another Tollywood actor -- Hiron Chatterjee -- who was the general secretary of the TMC youth wing, is also likely to defect to the BJP on Sunday.