KOLKATA: In a blow to West Bengal BJP, three of its municipal poll candidates -- former MLA Sunil Singh, his son Aditya and Garulia Municipality's ex-chairperson Saurabh Singh -- quit the saffron camp on Saturday, fuelling speculation that they might join the ruling TMC.
Polls to 108 municipalities, including Garulia, are scheduled to be held on February 27.
All three leaders who switched sides are relatives of BJP's Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh.
The parliamentarian had quit the TMC to join the BJP in 2019, prompting some of his family members to follow suit.
The trio fielded by the BJP from ward numbers 12, 17 and 18 of Garulia Municipality withdrew their nomination during the day, voicing grievance over the saffron party's style of functioning.
"We made a mistake by joining the BJP in 2019. The party does not respect its leaders and workers. We could not function the way we had wanted to in the party," Saurabh Singh told reporters.
The three leaders met Naihati MLA Partha Bhowmick and West Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick at the Barrackpore administrative building, after having quit the BJP.
Bhowmick, when approached, said, "We had come here for work and met the three leaders by chance. If they formally approach us (for joining the TMC), we will then think about it."
Irked over the development, the BJP MP said that the trio was no longer family.
"They betrayed our party, having got tempting offers from the TMC. They had begged for municipal poll tickets from the BJP...and now they stabbed the party from back. They will get a befitting reply from the people of Garulia," he said.
Singh, who is also the state vice-president of the BJP, rued that he failed as a brother and uncle.
"They are no more my family. Those in the BJP are my family members," he insisted.
Maintaining that the three leaders were given their due respect and space in the party, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said that "some other reasons must have made them to switch sides" before elections.
Majumdar, however, asserted that his party "won't be affected by these switchovers".