Kolkata: Former Kolkata mayor and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Sovan Chatterjee joined the BJP, Wednesday.
Sovan Chatterjee, a former minister of the Mamata Banerjee government, joined the party in the presence of its senior West Bengal leader Mukul Roy and its general secretary Arun Singh.
The move by Sovan Chatterjee did not come as a surprise as he has been distancing himself from the TMC for some time now. Mukul Roy while welcoming Sovan Chatterjee to the BJP said he was one of those leaders who have made a big contribution to Mamata Banerjee’s rise to the post of Chief Minister.
“He (Chatterjee) will now strengthen the BJP… Let me repeat that TMC will not even get the status of the opposition party in the next Assembly elections,” Mukul Roy told reporters.
Six TMC MLAs, and one each of Congress and CPI(M) have switched over to BJP since the results of Lok Sabha polls were announced in May, with the saffron party wooing rival party leaders to bolster its strength in the run up to the next assembly polls in the state, due in 2021.
However, it should be stated here the fallout between Sovan Chatterjee and Mamata Banerjee was not for political reasons. The West Bengal Chief Minister had made some comments about the personal life of Sovan Chatterjee which insulted him.
Since November last year, Chatterjee did not attend the Assembly sessions was associated in TMC activities. Normally a silent performer, Sovan Chatterjee did not even campaign for the party in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Persons close to the former West Bengal minister informed Wednesday that Chatterjee joined the BJP only to keep his ‘prestige’ intact.
Agencies