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Amid an ongoing exodus from the ruling Trinamool Congress ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections, two-time party MLA from Pandabeswar in Paschim Barddhaman district and former Asansol mayor, Jitendra Tiwari, joined the BJP on Tuesday. Tiwari, who had rebelled against the TMC leadership but had mellowed down after the BJP declined to induct him into the party in December last year, joined the saffron camp in the presence of party state chief Dilip Ghosh at a programme in Sreerampur in Hooghly district.
“I have joined the BJP as I want to work for the development of the state. In TMC, it was no longer possible to work for the party,” he said after joining the saffron party.
Tiwari’s resignation comes amid reports that the Trinamool Congress is planning to axe several sitting MLAs from its candidate list for the upcoming West Bengal elections. The party is planning to nominate more youths, women, and leaders with a clean image and acceptability in their area, reports stated.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met the party’s 12- member election committee on Monday at her residence in Kalighat and brain-stormed over the nominations. “Today, the election committee authorised Mamata Banerjee to take the final call regarding selecting candidates,” a senior TMC leader said.
Nearly 30 per cent of the 294 constituencies, including those of the 19 MLAs who have switched over to BJP, are likely to have new candidates, sources privy to the developments told PTI.
In 2016, the TMC won 211 seats in the 294-member House. The Left-Congress alliance had bagged 77 seats, and the BJP three.
The elections this time, which are seeing a stiff contest between the TMC and the BJP, will be held in eight phases, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27. Votes will be counted on May 2. After having a marginal presence in the politically polarised state for decades, the BJP has emerged as the ruling Trinamool Congress’s main rival over the last couple of years, managing to win 18 out of 42 seats in the Lok Sabha polls of 2019 and following it with inducting popular TMC MLAs, MP and ministers into the party.
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