KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader Saumitra Khan has claimed that around 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs are in contact with the saffron party and are prepared to switch allegiance if approved by the party leadership. The TMC has strongly rejected the allegation, calling it “bogus”.
The TMC currently holds 29 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal, compared with 12 for the BJP and one for the Congress. Mr Khan, a three-time Lok Sabha MP, told reporters on Tuesday that “twenty TMC MPs are in touch with us” and suggested that, with political approval, a large-scale defection could take place.
He also said that if the BJP wished, “the entire TMC will wind up in the next few days”.
Under India’s anti-defection law, at least two-thirds of a party’s legislators must defect together to avoid disqualification. In the TMC’s case, this threshold would be around 19 to 20 MPs.
Rejecting the claim, senior TMC MP Sougata Roy dismissed the remarks as unfounded. “It is absolutely bogus what the BJP and Soumitra Khan are feeding to reporters. Nothing of this sort will happen,” he said.
Ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, several prominent TMC leaders had switched to the BJP, only to return after the Mamata Banerjee-led party retained power.
But the equations this time are different, with the BJP now in power in Bengal after ending the TMC's 15-year rule.
The speculation also comes at a time when signs of unease within the TMC have become increasingly visible, with several legislators, MPs and leaders publicly expressing discontent in recent weeks.
(With inputs from PTI)