Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Biswajit Das on Tuesday returned to the Trinamool Congress. He had left West Bengal’s ruling party to join the saffron camp in 2019, PTI reported.
Das is the third BJP MLA to rejoin the Trinamool Congress after the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s victory in the Assembly elections in May. On Monday, Tanmay Ghosh had returned to the Trinamool Congress. In June, Mukul Roy had also made a similar switch.
Das said he had never felt comfortable while he was with the BJP, according to PTI. “I wanted to return to the TMC [Trinamool Congress] long ago,” he said. “The BJP has done nothing for Bengal.”
The MLA indicated that some misunderstandings had made him leave the Trinamool Congress, ANI reported.
“I have returned to my home now and I will continue to work for people of my state and constituency,” Das said.
The Trinamool Congress had won 213 seats in the eight-phase state election. The BJP managed to secure only 77 constituencies.
After Das’ exit, the BJP’s strength in the West Bengal legislative Assembly has been reduced to 72, according to NDTV. However, neither Das or the two leaders who quit the BJP before him have resigned as MLAs, according to the Hindustan Times.
The saffron party had said that it will take action against the defectors. “It is tough to do politics while staying in the Opposition,” BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya told the newspaper. “Some are leaving the BJP under pressure and fear of the Mamata Banerjee administration. Some are going out of greed of power.”
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