Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Continuing the erosion in the BJP ranks in West Bengal since the party’s rout in the state Assembly elections in May, the former union minister and two-time Member of Parliament from Asansol, Babul Supriyo, crossed over to the Trinamool Congress on Saturday in one of the biggest defections in the state.
A celebrated singer, Babul Supriyo, who was union minister of state for environment and forest, was dropped from the ministry by the prime minister Narendra Modi in the recent reshuffle of his cabinet a couple of months ago.
Supriyo was elected to the Lok Sabha from Asansol in 2014 and 2019. The defection comes weeks before the crucial Bhabanipur bypoll where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting. Interestingly, the BJP had nominated Supriyo among the star campaigners for the seat to campaign for Banerjee’s rival Priyanka Tibrewala. “Mamata Banerjee needs no campaign but if the party considers me, I will be happy to campaign for her in Bhabanipur,” Supriyo said.
Supriyo visited the office of Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and joined the ruling party. Soon after he was dropped from the central cabinet, he had announced in social media on July 31 that he would quit active politics and resign as MP. Later at the persuasion of the BJP leadership, he had agreed to continue as MP.
“When I had said two months back that I want to quit politics, I was serious about it. After getting this new opportunity, however, I decided to change my mind,” he said, adding that he is very excited about joining the TMC. “I will work for the development of Bengal,” he said. “I am grateful to Abhishek Banerjee, (TMC national general secretary) and Mamata Banerjee for giving me an opportunity to work for the state. I will follow the rulebook; there is no point in holding on to the Asansol seat when I have joined the TMC,” he added.
Notably, the Union Home ministry reduced Supriyo’s security category from ‘Z’ to ‘Y’ soon after he joined the TMC.
After joining the TMC, he, however, said a “great opportunity” had been extended to him by the TMC leadership and he has decided to take it up. “It was with great disillusionment that I had announced that I will quit politics. A great opportunity has been extended by Didi [Mamata Banerjee] and Abhishek Banerjee and I am happy to accept that,” he said. Speculation is rife in political circles that Supriyo may be nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool as replacement for Arpita Ghosh who had quit the Upper House on Wednesday.
Supriyo lost the 2021 Assembly poll from Tollygunj on the BJP ticket. He had to resign as Union Minister of State during the Cabinet reshuffle in July. Since then, he had been expressing discontent towards the party leadership saying he was not given enough responsibility. “I was expecting something more after seven years as a Union Minister of State. Then differences started growing with the party.”
The blow for the BJP started with its senior leader Mukul Roy quitting the party soon after the Assembly elections and since then at least five BJP MLAs have left the party and joined the TMC.
“Babul Supriyo has cheated the people of Asansol and also proved that his entire aim was to remain a Minister and enjoy power,” State BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said. A section of party leaders like MP Jagannath Sarkar said the BJP should give tickets only to those who are committed to its ideology and not outsiders.
The TMC leadership said the BJP, which organised mass defections from the party before the Assembly polls and sent a charter plane to ferry them to Delhi, cannot criticise these defections.
