Following BJP MP Nisith Pramanik’s sensational claim that at least 40-45 Trinamool Congress MLAs were in touch with the party, his fellow MP from Bengal Jagannath Sarkar has confirmed to The New Indian that indeed the party has received communication from as many MLAs. However, Sarkar is cautious about indiscriminately filling up BJP ranks with TMC turncoats lest it demoralises the local cadre, who are toiling hard to deliver a decisive victory to the saffron party in the upcoming polls.
Speaking exclusively to The New Indian BJP’s Ranaghat MP said, “The very base of Trinamool Congress has shaken and this is the reason for which several TMC leaders are searching for an opportunity to change and thus they are trying to give way signals to BJPs. We should keep in mind that no acts should hamper the enthusiasm of BJP workers,” Sarkar said.
As the Bengal Panchayat election approaches, the leaders of the unit of Bharatiya Janata Party have not spent a day without predicting doomsday for the ruling Trinamool Congress.
On Sunday, Cooch Behar Member of Parliament and MoS Nishit Pramanik claimed that not less than 40 MLAs of Trinamool are in touch with BJP stirring fears of horse-trading in the run up to the Panchayat elections.
Pramanik while giving a speech at the party meeting in Natabari, an assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district said, “Several MLAs of Trinamool Congress are keeping in touch with us. The list includes 40-45 Trinamool MLAs. TMC now looks like a glass house and at any moment this house of cards can collapse.”
The claims also triggered apprehensions within the TMC if the party’s house is in order, even as their supreme leader Mamata Banerjee continues her tirade against the Prime Minister at the national level.
Dola Sen, Rajya Sabha MP of TMC told The New Indian, “Let BJP dream whatever it can. It dreamt in 2021 and is also dreaming in 2024. It is good to dream. I welcome BJP’s day dreaming, however certainly their dream will always remain a dream itself. Results of the 2021 assembly poll in Bengal shows that CPM, Congress, BJP altogether scored 77, while Mamata Banerjee alone stood out with 217. There were lots of dialogues such as ‘apki bar 200 par’ were also heard but there is always a difference between dreams.
Responding to claims of horse-trading, Congress veteran Pradeep Bhattacharya told The New Indian, “These people are thinking if they change the colour and the party they are in might be in a beneficial position. It brings out their greediness sans any moral values. These leaders are purchasable and nothing else than a commodity. The entire situation is unfortunate and sad.”
In the last Panchayat polls, which was marred by violence, the ruling Trinamool Congress registered a clean sweep in the three-tier West Bengal panchayat polls. TMC’s performance was unprecedented as it gained 95% of zilla parishad seats, 90% of panchayat samiti seats and 73% of gram panchayat seats that went for polling and for which results were declared on Thursday night. On the day of polling, thirteen people had died and around 50 were injured in widespread violence that swept across Bengal.