Kolkata: In yet another blow to the West Bengal unit of BJP, Sabyasachi Dutta from BJP returned back to his old party Trinamool Congress on Thursday. Dutta was the former Trinamool Congress legislator and the former mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. In 2019, Dutta joined BJP from Trinamool Congress.
On Thursday afternoon, Dutta arrived at the premises of the West Bengal legislative assembly, went to the room allotted to the state industries & commerce minister and the party's general secretary, Partha Chatterjee from where the latter officially announced the return of Dutta to the party.
After returning to Trinamool Congress, Dutta said that emotional decision prompted him to quit Trinamool Congress and join BJP before and that same emotional quotient has prompted him to come back to Trinamool Congress.
On Thursday, Mamata Banerjee took oath as the newly elected legislator from the Bhabanipur assembly constituency. Sources said that before attending the oath-taking ceremony, she confirmed to her close confidants that she has given nod to Dutta’s return to Trinamool Congress.
The body language of Partha Chatterjee and state transport minister Firhad Hakim clearly said that they are both happy over Dutta’s return.
Dutta did utter much at the moment. According to him, he had been able to continue as the MLA from 2011 to 2021 because of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “However, because of some misunderstanding and emotional provocation, I joined BJP some time back. I am so happy that she had decided to take me back. My new journey begins again,” he said.
On occasion, Hakim said that he had asked Dutta not to quit Trinamool several times. “But he did not listen,” he said.
In 2019, Dutta joined BJP from Trinamool Congress. There are various explanations over his decision then. Some say that he joined BJP because of his fellow Trinamool Congress MLA, Sujit Basu. Dutta had criticized the chief minister and Trinamool Congress vehemently when he joined BJP.
But things started changing since the West Bengal assembly elections were announced in May this year. On Wednesday, he launched a scathing criticism against the barbaric incident at Lakhimpur Kheri. Since then speculations started about his possible return to Trinamool Congress. Finally, on Thursday he returned back to his old party.
Read: More BJP legislators in West Bengal likely to switch to Trinamool
