Many more TMC leaders will join party soon

KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said former Kolkata Mayor and TMC lawmaker Sovan Chatterjee’s joining the party will strengthen it and claimed that several other leaders of Mamata Banerjee’s party, including MLAs are in touch with the saffron camp.nnDiscussions between BJP and Chatterjee about his joining the saffron party were on for a long time, he said.nnChatterjee and his friend Baishaki Banerjee, who is a leader of TMC’s education cell, joined BJP at the party’s headquarters in Delhi during the day.nn”We welcome Chatterjee into the party. His joining will strengthen our organisation in the days to come,” he told reporters here.nnChatterjee, who was once a close associate of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, was on a sabbatical since 2018 after being asked by her to step down as mayor and minister. His joining BJP is being seen as a jolt to TMC, which has been persuading him to return to active politics.nnGhosh claimed, “There are several other TMC leaders and MLAs who are regularly in touch with us and will join us soon”.nnAsked about speculations over yesteryear actress and TMC MLA from Raidighi, Debashree Roy’s joining BJP, Ghosh said it was postponed due to certain decisions.nn”But she will join soon,” he claimed.nnBJP has been wooing rival party leaders to bolster its strength ahead of the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls. Six TMC MLAs, besides one each from the Congress and the CPI-M had joined it after the Lok Sabha poll results, which gave a thumping mandate to the Narendra Modi government.