Kolkata: Sparking speculations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that at least 13 MLAs and six MPs of the BJP were in touch with Trinamool Congress.
“Only party secretary Abhishek Banerjee can reveal the actual number of public representatives who are in touch with us. We have asked them to continue with the BJP and to pass on the information to us (TMC) and when the time comes we will ask them to officially join TMC,” said Ghosh.
BJP Alipurduar MLA Suman Kanjilal joined the TMC
Ghosh’s comment comes after BJP Alipurduar MLA Suman Kanjilal joined the TMC on Sunday and was welcomed by TMC Abhishek Banerjee at his Camac Street office in Kolkata.
Though the BJP had won 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, its official count of MPs is now 17 after BJP Asansol MP Babul Supriyo joined TMC. Another BJP MP Arjun Singh who too joined the TMC however, didn’t resign from the MP post.
In the 2021 Assembly elections BJP won 77 Assembly seats, two parliamentarians who had also contested in the assembly polls resigned and retained their Lok Sabha MP posts.
After the elections, five BJP MLAs including Mukul Roy, Krishna Kalyani, Tanmoy Ghosh, Biswajit Das and Soumen Roy were seen in the ruling camp and with Alipurduar MLA Suman Kanjilal the number of BJP MLA has come down to 69.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that officially BJP has 75 MLAs in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
