West Bengal: BJP's Biswajit Das joins TMC, third to return after Mamata Banerjee's win

Kolkata, Aug 31: BJP MLA from Bagda, Biswajit Das, joined the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal, becoming the third lawmaker to return since Mamata Banerjee's landslide victory in the state polls.

"I never felt very comfortable in the BJP. I wanted to return to the TMC long ago. The BJP has done nothing for Bengal. It is a party of outsiders and an never understand the pulse of the people of the state," he said after joining the party in presence of TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee.

Das said he had left the TMC in 2019 due to a misunderstanding.

"There was some misunderstanding with the party (TMC) then. It would have been better if I had not left the party. But now it is like homecoming for me," he said.

Welcoming Ghosh to the party fold, Chatterjee, who is also state industry minister, said the BJP has been "trying to take post-poll revenge" against the TMC as it failed miserably in the assembly polls.

"We will fight the BJP politically. It is trying to belittle the people of West Bengal. But the people of the state will not tolerate this," he said.

On Monday, another saffron camp legislator, Tanmoy Ghosh, returned to the TMC.

Ghosh, a leader from Bishnupur, had switched over to the BJP just ahead of the assembly polls.

This comes days after Tanmay Ghosh, another MLA who had moved to the BJP and won, returned to the Trinamool.

In a major setback, BJP national vice president and MLA Mukul Roy returned to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in June this year, which was seen as the first setback for the saffron camp, after its failure to stop Mamata's rule in the state in 2021.

Roy had quit the TMC in 2017 and was appointed as the general secretary of the BJP in the run up to the Bengal assembly elections. He had left the TMC due to alleged disagreements with the top leadership on several issue, which included problems with Abhishek Banerjee.

The BJP won 77 of the 292 seats of West Bengal assembly that went to the polls. The Trinamool Congress won 213 seats, while ISF and GJM bagged one seat each.