‘Let me settle down first’: Dinesh Trivedi keeps everyone guessing on plan to join BJP

After offering a surprise resignation in Rajya Sabha yesterday, former Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi today kept his cards close to the chest reveal little about his future plans. Speaking on the BJP’s leaders’ statements welcoming him, Trivedi referred to it as a matter of privilege. Though he did not confirm his move, he also shied away from ruling out the possibility of joining the saffron party. “I am very grateful to BJP and its senior leaders. I was told they have said that they have welcomed me into their party. It would be a privilege, no question about it. But, let me settle down first,” said Trivedi.

He also hit out at the Mamata government for the environment of violence prevailing in the state. “If Mamata Banerjee, rightly says ‘I want to keep my head up’, she should know that everybody should keep their head up. If there is an environment of violence, then there is fear, heads are not held high then,” said Trivedi.

A two-time Lok Sabha MP, Trivedi, who lost the 2019 General Elections, was sent to Rajya Sabha by the TMC. His resignation came as yet another setback for the Mamata Banerjee camp, which is already grappling with an exodus of senior party leaders.

Trivedi is reported to have had some differences with another Rajya Sabha MP of TMC.

While the BJP has termed his move as the beginning of the TMC’s end, the ruling party in the state has termed Trivedi as ungrateful. Lok Sabha TMC MP Sougata Roy told PTI, “People like Trivedi enjoy power during their tenure and leave before elections. If he had grievances, he could have aired it within the party.”

Senior TMC leader and minister Tapas Ray claimed that Trivedi had never enjoyed mass support and had won elections in Mamata Banerjee’s name. He said that it’s a blessing for the party if people like him leave the party.

BJP West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has said that the party is ready to welcome him if he agrees to join the BJP.

Trivedi is the fourth senior leader to quit the ruling party in Bengal in the last two months. Before him, Suvendu Adhikari, Baishali Dalmiya and Rajib Banerjee had switched over to the BJP.