West Bengal: Defections from ruling party continue, TMC MLA Dipak Haldar joins BJP

Kolkata: In continuation of the relentless exodus from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), TMC MLA of Diamond Harbour Dipak Haldar on Tuesday joined the saffron camp at a public rally of other turncoats Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee. This comes a day after Haldar resigned from the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The development comes a few days after five TMC leaders, including Rajib Banerjee and three MLAs including Baishali Banerjee, Prabir Ghoshal and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, joined the BJP on January 30 at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the national capital.

Haldar said that since he was not getting ‘due respect’ from the ruling Trinamool Congress, he had resigned from the party. He also claimed that the people of West Bengal want "another change".

“I had defected to the saffron camp as this is the only democratic party that can counter the ruling Trinamool Congress. Those who have been with the TMC from the very beginning are not getting their due respect and are also being refrained from working with the people. However, I have joined [the] BJP since I intend to work for the people,” mentioned Halder.

Although Mamata Banerjee has time-and-again claimed that her party, the Trinamool Congress, won’t be affected by the defections, poll analysts say the regular defections and the common allegations might affect the ruling party in the upcoming state assembly polls.

Incidentally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at a virtual rally in Dumarjala last week, had warned that by the time the election arrives, Mamata Banerjee will be all alone in her own party.

Notably, the saffron camp had only three MLAs in West Bengal after the 2016 Assembly polls. The number has now increased to almost 30. In the last one and a half years, more than 20 MLAs from the TMC, the Left parties, and the Congress have defected to the BJP.