Mamata Banerjee Breaks Saffron Camp in Alipurduars, Sixth BJP MLA Joins TMC Ahead of Panchayat Polls

Bengal: Another blow to the saffron camp in Bengal after Alipurduar BJP MLA Suman Kanjilal joined Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) party on Sunday. Trinamool All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee invited him to join the party in his Camac Street office. With this now, the sixth BJP MLA switched sides and joined the TMC in Bengal.

BJP Comes Down to 69

Let us inform you that, in the last assembly election, the BJP won 77 seats out of 294. Two MPs of the party contested assembly election also won MLA posts back in 2021. However, they later resigned as MLAs and Trinamool won the by-elections of those two constituencies. Currently, the BJP has 75 MLAs on record in the Assembly, but this number has actually come down to 69 after 6 BJP MLAs switched sides and changed party. TMC on it's official Facebook page wrote, 'Rejecting the anti-people policies & hate-laden agenda of BJP, Shri Suman Kanjilal, MLA Alipurduars joined the AITC family today, in the presence of our National General Secretary Shri Abhishek Banerjee. Yet another BJP West Bengal MLA realises the truth that BJP has no intention of serving people!'

Breakthrough In Alipurduars

In 2021, the Trinamool failed to win a single seat in Alipuduar district despite winning across the state. The BJP won all five seats in that district. This time, the ruling party succeeded in breaking the saffron camp in that district as well.

Suman, a journalist by profession, joined politics in 2020. The BJP first announced the name of economist Ashok Lahiri for Alipurduar seat. Later, Suman was nominated for that seat and Ashok was taken to Balurghat. A source from the BJP parliamentary party, said that Suman has been in Kolkata for the last three days. He switched parties with the intervention of another MLA who left the BJP and joined the Trinamool. However, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya claimed that the BJP will not lose its relevance in state politics due to the MLA's change of party.

After the 2021 assembly polls, Krishnanagar North BJP MLA and BJP Central Committee Vice President Mukul Roy joined the Trinamool. After that, Kaliaganj MLA Soumen Roy, Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani, Bagdah MLA Biswajit Das and Bishnupur MLA Tanmoy Ghosh joined Trinamool. Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari has appealed to Speaker Biman Banerjee to disqualify them as MLAs. He also appealed to court, but those matters are still pending.