New Delhi: The Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got a fresh lease of life after a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and MP from Bishnupur, Saumitra Khan, joined the BJP earlier this week in the national capital, citing “misrule” by the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal.
The Bengal unit of the BJP has been reeling under “depression” since the proposed “Save Democracy” Rath Yatra had hit a road block in the Calcutta High Court last year, as this was one of the biggest election campaign agenda the party had thought of unleashing before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Not only this, cadres had also been demoralised since little had moved regarding alleged corruption cases against some senior TMC leaders in Bengal in the last four-and-a-half years. Some BJP leaders have also complained about the Central BJP not paying much attention to the leadership in Bengal, alleging that the Central BJP had done little to boost the morale of the cadre in the state.
However, at such a time, highly placed sources in the BJP said that many more TMC leaders are likely to follow suit and join the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls due later this year. If sources are to be believed, some four senior TMC leaders are in touch with the BJP currently, and they could join the BJP bandwagon in Bengal ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Among the TMC leaders who are likely to join the BJP in Bengal are leaders who have been close to Mukul Roy and have been keeping in touch with Roy over the last one year. These include some MPs as well as some MLAs from the TMC whom Mukul Roy had groomed during his time in TMC and still owe their allegiance to Roy. A senior BJP functionary from Bengal told this correspondent: “There are several senior TMC leaders who are in touch with the BJP to join the party before elections to the Lok Sabha are announced. It is just a matter of time now and you will see how many of such senior leaders walk out of the TMC. The first wicket is down and many more are to go in the coming days. The TMC has stifled the voices of their own leaders and has unleashed a dictatorial regime in Bengal.” Saumitra Khan is one of the first loyalists of Mukul Roy to switch sides and join the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Sources also claimed that another ousted TMC MP from Bolpur, Anupam Hazra, is also likely to join the BJP soon.
Mukul Roy, a senior leader and a former Union Minister and former Rajya Sabha MP from the TMC, who was believed to be the second man in command after Mamata Banerjee in Bengal, had quit the party in 2017 to join the BJP. He had also cited the “dictatorial rule” of Mamata Banerjee in Bengal while putting in his resignation from the primary membership of the party then.
After joining the BJP, Saumitra Khan told The Sunday Guardian, “This is the start of the downfall of the TMC in Bengal. The TMC led by the Pisi-Bhaipo (aunt-nephew) duo—Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee—has unleashed a rule of a dictator in Bengal. Bengal has become the most undemocratic state in India where people do not even have their right to vote. Police raj and syndicate raj is rampant. I am certain that many TMC leaders are wanting to join the BJP since they are fed up with this government and in the coming days, watch how many leave the party and join the BJP.”
The BJP has positioned itself to become the principal opposition party in Bengal and its efforts have intensified after the party made a successful debut in the Panchayat elections concluded earlier last year, along with securing a second position in all the by-elections held in the state last year. Amit Shah, BJP national president, has set a target of 22 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal for which the party had planned for a massive “Save Democracy” Rath Yatra, which has hit a roadblock in the courts.