KOLKATA: Less than 24 hours after Mukul Roy returned to the TMC, the saffron camp received another jolt on Saturday evening as BJP leader Rajib Banerjee, a former minister in Mamata’s cabinet, met TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. The organizational foundation of the Bengal BJP, which largely rested on the shoulders of the turncoats from the Trinamool Congress, has been shaken to the core with many of them expressing a desire to return to their old party and a few even snapping all contacts with the saffron camp.
Some of the former TMC MLAs who joined the BJP have tendered their apologies to the Mamata Banerjee-led party. According to sources, many of them have started skipping organizational meetings called by state BJP president Dilip Ghosh. Rajib was among the state BJP members who criticized the demand from some in the party for the imposition of the president’s rule in West Bengal.
After meeting Ghosh, Rajib said, “I oppose the demand for imposing presidential rule in Bengal. Because the ruling party has come to power with massive support. At the same time, I do not support the party’s Hindutva rhetoric.’’
The crack in the saffron camp started widening rapidly after the party’s poor show in the recent Assembly elections. The BJP bagged 77 seats out of 292, far less than the 200 predicted by the big guns in the party.
Soon after the election, former TMC MLAs Dipendu Biswas and Sonali Guha resigned from the BJP and said they wanted to return to the TMC.
With Roy’s returning to the TMC, the ruling party is expecting an exodus from the BJP When Roy was in Trinamool Bhavan on Friday, BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh convened an organisation meeting in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, which was skipped by three local MLAs and a local MP.