Former Rajya Sabha MP and Editor of The Pioneer , Chandan Mitra, has quit the BJP and will reportedly join the Trinamool Congress along with four Congress MLAs on July 21.
“I have sent my resignation to the party president,” Mitra told BusinessLine , although he did not confirm if would join the TMC.
Trinamool sources, however, said Mitra would be the “big catch” in the TMC’s annual Martyr’s Day rally.
Mitra was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha during 2003-2009, after which the BJP got him elected to the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh. His tenure ended in 2016. Mitra had also contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Hooghly, and came in third.
He had reportedly met Mamata Banerjee, who is seeking a bigger role for herself in national politics. Mitra, who runs a newspaper in Delhi, is an articulate member of the city’s literati and can be a useful asset to Banerjee in the Capital.
Leading the pack of four Congress MLAs is Mainul Haque, a five-term MLA from Farakka in Murshidabad district. Murshidabad, a Congress bastion where the party won 14 of the district’s 22 seats, now has only six MLAs from the Grand Old Party. The TMC, which had won 4 seats in 2016, now has 12 MLAs from the district. No action has been taken against those who crossed over under the anti-defection law.