Ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has made a major claim on Thursday that he has a fresh list of 41 more Trinamool Congress MLAs who are willing to join BJP. Vijayvargiya said at a press conference that if the BJP inducts these MLAs into their party, the TMC will fall but the saffron party is still mulling as to who all to induct and whom not to.
Trinamool left rattled by back-to-back resignations
Many TMC MLAs have already resigned from the party and have switched to the BJP. In December last year, post Trinamool Congress heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari’s shocking resignation, several leaders and activists started to quit from their respective party posts in West Bengal.
BJP chief in West Bengal Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday claimed that at least 50 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs would join the BJP in the coming month. Ghosh challenged West Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick to persuade at least one booth president from the BJP to join the opposition party.
With Mallick claiming that those MLAs who left TMC are queuing to join the party back, Ghosh countered his claim by stating at least 50 MLAs from the TMC would be joining his party in the next month. “I ask Mallick to persuade even one booth president to join his party, and I’ll accept his claim. At least 50 of TMC’s MLAs will join the BJP next month,” he said, according to Asian News International.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mallick claimed MLAs who exited TMC want to join the party back before Assembly elections. “Six-seven MPs will immediately join the TMC within the first week of May, before the elections. Even the MLAs who left us have queued up for rejoining. Tushar Babu, the MLA from Bankura has rejoined yesterday,” Mallick said.
This development comes after 10 MLAs switched sides to join the BJP on December 19 in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah at a massive rally in Midnapore town of West Bengal. Led by Suvendu Adhikari, six sitting legislators of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and four others from the Left and the Congress joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While the TMC leadership targeted Adhikari, who resigned from the party, and called the others traitors and opportunists, Shah, in his brief speech, defended the rebels. In an open letter to his followers, Adhikari stated that the TMC had failed to bring any change in the state and the political party had begun to rot.
Meanwhile, the saffron party is gearing for a tough battle in Bengal – aiming to attain more than 200 seats. The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats at present. However, BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats out of 42 and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. Recently, TMC trumped BJP in all 3 bypolls, but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections.
