Former RS MP, Chandan Mitra quits BJP, may join TMC

New Delhi, July 18: On the first day of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, senior journalist former Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra quit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I have given resignation. I have not decided when or where I will join, I am not going to disclose it," Chandan Mitra told news agency ANI.

He is believed to be upset at being sidelined by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah axis of power in the BJP. Mitra had been Rajya Sabha MP in 2003 and 2010 also contested unsuccessfully as the BJP Sabha candidate from Hooghly constituency, West Bengal.

Speculations doing rounds that Mitra may join Trinamool Congress (TMC) on 21 July at the Shahid Divas celebrations. According to Zee News, Mitra has submitted his resignation to BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday and will join the TMC on 21 July.

Mitra was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha during August 2003 to August 2009. He was elected to another term in the Rajya Sabha, as a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Madhya Pradesh, in June 2010.

Chandan Mitra is the Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer.