The rulingTrinamool Congress received a serious jolt ahead of the polls as it witnessed a series of defections over the weekend with a former minister and sitting MLAs switching camp to join the BJP.
At least 25 leaders cutting across ranks, from the South Bengal districts, joined the BJP.
The defections were allegedly engineered primarily by Trinamool rebel and former minister Rajib Banerjee; along with Baishali Dalmiya – Bally MLA and daughter of the late Jagmohan Dalmiya. Dalmiya, who had referred to a section of her former party leaders as ‘termites’, and was expelled on disciplinary grounds; while Banerjee was unhappy at being sidelined.
Some of the dissident leaders were flown to Delhi on Saturday, after Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, deferred his Bengal visit post the Delhi blast. The leaders joined BJP in the presence of Shah and addressed a public rally in Howrah – Kolkata’s twin city across the Hooghly, and once considered to be Trinamool stronghold – on Sunday.
“I wanted to work for the people. The common man is being misled through these so called welfare schemes like Swasthya Sathi (a subsidised healthcare scheme) which actually are not working on-ground as there is no supporting infrastructure,” Banerjee said on Sunday.
This is the second largest defection that Bengal’s ruling party saw in the last two months. The previous one, in December, witnessed Suvendu Adhikari – once Mamata Banerjee’s confidante and considered to be next in-line to succession – join the BJP. He is believed to have engineered several switchovers across East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Burdwan regions.
Adhikari’s younger brother Soumendu joined the BJP too; while father Sisir – a Trinamool MP – has now been vocal in expressing dissatisfaction with his party. So far 17 MLAs have changed camps or quit the TMC.
Political observers say, for Trinamool, defections across South Bengal districts are a cause of worry.
Of the 294 Assembly seats, nearly 200 (excluding those in Murshidabad and Nadia districts) are in South Bengal region where Trinamool had a vice-like grip till 2019. Now the party is struggling to keep its flock together.
BJP’s growing presence in North-24 Parganas, the largest district in the state, cannot be ignored; while in the predominantly agri-belt of Hooghly, it is gaining ground.
In North Bengal districts, if voting patterns during Lok Sabha polls are considered as a precursor, then BJP was leading across many of the seats there, including Congress strongholds.
“Defectors have been the driving force for BJP in Bengal. And this is more evident now. Mass scale defections like these create a negative perception of the ruling party in the mind of voters. Apparently, more defections will happen it seems,” Bishwanath Chakraborty, political analyst, told BusinessLine .
The Trinamool Congress on its part put up a brave face. Party spokesperson and MP, Saugata Roy claimed: “These defections do not matter. If leaders were so unhappy with the party, why did they not raise it internally? Why behave like opportunists.”