Another big blow to BJP in Bengal, former party vice president and MP Arjun Singh joins TMC
Former West Bengal BJP vice-president Arjun Singh on Sunday quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress. Singh was received by Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at his office in south Kolkata. Trinamool tweeted from its official Twitter handle, ‘Warmly welcome Arjun Singh, former Vice President of West Bengal BJP unit and MP from Barrackpore, to the All India Trinamool Congress family. He joined us in the presence of our national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Warmly welcoming former Vice President of @BJP4Bengal and MP from Barrackpore, Shri @ArjunsinghWB into the All India Trinamool Congress family.
He joins us today in the presence of our National General Secretary Shri @abhishekaitc. pic.twitter.com/UuOB9yp9Xo
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) May 22, 2022
A few days earlier, Arjun Singh had hit out at the state leadership of the party for not allowing it to function properly. Arjun Singh was upset that the Center withdrew the notification to hike jute prices to Rs 6,500 per quintal. He and other industry stakeholders have been demanding this for the past few weeks.
Sources also said that Arjun Singh had recently gone to Delhi to meet top BJP officials regarding factionalism in the BJP state unit. During this, he also raised the issue of jute mill.
Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh was in touch with the Trinamool Congress for the last six months. Sources said the BJP made several unsuccessful attempts to persuade him.
Arjun Singh had left Trinamool before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after giving ticket to Dinesh Trivedi from Barrackpore seat. He defeated Trivedi, who was a two-time MP from this seat. Singh’s son Pawan Singh is a BJP MLA from Bhatpara, and can follow in his father’s footsteps.
Arjun Singh is the second Lok Sabha MP after Babul Supriyo to leave the BJP in West Bengal. After the death of senior Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee, Babul Supriyo contested on a TMC ticket in the recent by-election to the Ballygunge assembly seat and managed to win.
