Kolkata: At a time when opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress, are coming together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Congress has received a blow as its only MLA, Byron Biswas, defected to the TMC on Monday.
Less than three months after winning the Sagardighi bypoll in Murshidabad district with the support of the Left Front, Congress MLA Biswas joined the TMC during a public connect program in the presence of TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Sagardighi seat
The Sagardighi seat has been under the ruling TMC since 2011, and Biswas won the bypoll by defeating TMC's Debasish Banerjee by nearly 23,000 votes, securing a vote share of 47 per cent.
After joining the ruling party, Biswas expressed his dissatisfaction with the Congress and stated that he could not work for the people while being associated with them.
"I couldn't work for the people while being in Congress, which is why I defected to the TMC. I will now receive more support from the TMC. I always wanted to contest on a TMC ticket. Why is Congress calling me a traitor now? Congress had no role in my victory; otherwise, they could have won in the 2021 Assembly elections," said Biswas.
TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged that in the 2021 elections, the Congress and the CPI(M) had joined hands with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"By joining Trinamool Congress, Byron Biswas has supported Mamata Banerjee's developmental politics and strengthened our fight against the BJP. He will raise his voice against BJP's discriminatory politics and the Center's deprivation of funds for Bengal," added Banerjee.
It is worth recalling that after Congress' victory in the Sagardighi bypoll, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that 'unholy nexus' and 'money power' were behind Byron Biswas' win.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stated that TMC's tendency for 'horse trading' would lead to their ruin.
"Byron cannot blame Congress. Our workers worked hard for Biswas' victory. He was being pressured by TMC for the last three months," added Chowdhury.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, "I had predicted from day one that he would join the TMC. He is 'Mirzaffar' Biswas."
