NEW DELHI: In a big blow to
Mamata Banerjee, two of her
West Bengal MLAs and at least 50
TMC councillors on Tuesday defected to the BJP just days after the
saffron party made significant inroads in the state. A CPM MLA has also jumped ship to the BJP.
BJP leader Mukul Roy's son Subhrangshu, who was suspended by the Trinamool for six years for "demeaning the party", Trinamool MLA Tusharkanti Bhattacharya and CPM legislator Debendra Nath Roy are among those who have joined the saffron party.
They joined the BJP at the party's headquarters in the national capital in the presence of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya and Mukul Roy.
Mukul Roy is seen to be instrumental in engineering the defection of TMC leaders to the BJP. Political watchers believe that Roy is one of the key architects of the party's best ever show in West Bengal, where TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is in power since 2011.
BJP national general secretary
Kailash Vijayvargiya had earlier announced that three MLAs and 50-60 councillors will join the BJP today and added that more defections are expected in the future.
"Like the elections were held in seven phases in West Bengal, joinings in BJP will also happen in seven phases. Today was just the first phase," Vijayvargiya said at a press conference in the national capital.
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Earlier today, 16 Trinamool councillors of the
Kanchrapara Municipality withdrew their membership from the AITC Councillor Party.
At an election rally last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned of a revolt within the TMC, claiming that at least 40 Trinamool MLAs were in touch with the BJP.
West Bengal witnessed a saffron surge as the BJP inflicted a massive blow to the ruling TMC after winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the just-concluded elections, a massive gain from its 2014 tally of 2 seats.
The Banerjee-led TMC won just 22 seats, as against 34 in 2014.
(With inputs from agencies)