Kolkata: In a major setback for Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha MP Saumitra Khan quit the party on Wednesday and joined the BJP in presence of Amit Shah, just months ahead of the general elections.
Saumitra Khan is an MP from Bishnupur constituency in West Bengal.
He told News18 that he resigned from the TMC because he didn’t have any say in the party. “It is now run by Mamata di’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. He is after me because I raise my voice against the ‘syndicate’ in Bengal,” he claimed.
Khan alleged that Abhishek had threatened to get him arrested and said “there is a threat to my life because I raised my voice against the party’s misconduct”.
BJP’s Bengal chief Mukul Roy took the opportunity to take pot-shots at the West Bengal chief minister.
“Saumitra Khan is joining the BJP because the TMC has no longer remained a political party. It is now a private company run by ‘Pishi’ (referring to Mamata Banerjee) and ‘Bhaipo’ (her nephew),” he told News18.
He claimed that there are more MPs from TMC who are fed up with Mamata and want to join BJP. “We are hopeful that all of them will join us ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” Roy added.
Mamata at a TMC core committee meeting in September 2018 had warned party leaders against hobnobbing with BJP leaders in Delhi.
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