BJP leader Mukul Roy's brother-in-law joins Mamata camp after brief stint in saffron party

Months before the Assembly elections in West Bengal, BJP leader Srijan Roy returned to the TMC. He is said to be the brother-in-law of BJP's national vice-president Mukul Roy. TMC spokesperson and West Bengal minister Bratya Basu confirmed that Roy was a TMC veteran who had switched sides to the BJP in 2019. 

"The politics which is going on in West Bengal is against our ideals. We need to strengthen the hands of party supremo Mamata Banerjee to ensure that secularism flourishes in the state," Srijan Roy said after returning back to the TMC.

Bengali film actor and model Nilanjana Majumdar and lawyer Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay also joined the TMC. Basu said that Chattopadhyay had represented TMC leaders in the Narada sting tapes case in the Calcutta High Court.

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TMC Exodus

Ahead of the West Bengal polls, several leaders have quit Mamata Banerjee's TMC. Earlier, West Bengal political heavyweight and a former close aide of the CM, Suvendu Adhikari switched to the BJP. Joining him were TMC MP Sunil Mondal and nine sitting MLAs. The second minister to resign from the TMC was Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who wished to quit politics. Meanwhile, the TMC said that those who are leaving do not have long political history.

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WB Assembly Election 

The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats at present. However, BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats out of 42 and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. Recently, TMC trumped BJP in all 3 polls, but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections. 

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