Eight TMC defectors, ‘forced to join BJP’, return where their ‘heart belongs’

Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim announced in a press conference on July 9 that eight of the 16 TMC councillors who had defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined TMC ranks once again.

Hakim claimed that BJP leaders had warned the councillors from Halisahar municipality with dire consequences if they did not defect.

Commenting on the issue, the West Bengal Municipal Affairs Minister said: “The Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a policy of scaring TMC councillors to make sure they join the saffron party.”

Stating that these leaders are just trying to be in the good books of BJP bigwig Amit Shah, he claimed that BJP MP Arjun Singh had threatened TMC councillors with “grave consequences” if they didn’t join the saffron ranks. However, the councillors exhibited great courage and returned to TMC.

Anshuman Roy, the chairman of Halishahar municipality, was among the eight councillors who had defected to BJP. He was forced to join the BJP allegedly on gunpoint, reported The Telegraph. The Halisahar councillors felt suffocated in the BJP and wanted a breather by returning to TMC, where their “heart belongs”.

Out of a total of 23 councillors in North 24 Parganas district’s Halisahar municipality, 16 defected to the BJP. The defection was reportedly planned out by state leaders of the party such as Mukul Roy and Arjun Singh.

Singh, however, said that no one was forced to join their party and junked all such claims.

He added: “We still believe that we will get hold of the municipality.”

Notably, when the councillors defected on May 28, the BJP boasted that it was the beginning of a seven-phase defection from Trinamool. While inducting the 16 councillors, the BJP had claimed such defections would ensure the collapse of Mamata Banerjee’s government.