Agartala: Tripura BJP MLA Ashis Das, a staunch critic of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and a key member of the party's dissident faction, is set to sever ties with the BJP to join Trinamool, a source close to the MLA confirmed to ETV Bharat. Das has decided to join the TMC officially in the presence of party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday, he said. Das, a legislator from the Surma assembly constituency was recently spotted at Trinamool Congress Bhavan in Kolkata and is learnt to have met TMC president Subrata Bakshi.
A video that is being widely circulated on the social media platforms showed Das praising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her landslide victory in the Bhabanipur by-polls. Das said he is proud of Mamata Banerjee as she has eventually filled the vacuum of a strong opposition in the country. "Today, the whole country is staring at Mamata Banerjee and Bengal like the pre-Independence era. Bengal's contribution to the Indian freedom movement can't be ignored but in the post-independence era Bengal is the most politically deprived region," he is heard saying.
Read: Mamata lands a landslide in Bhabanipur, TMC sweeps Shamsherganj and Jangipur Assembly polls
Slamming the BJP, he said a dictatorial rule is prevailing in all the BJP ruled states and that UP, Gujarat and Tripura are no exception. "I have a meeting at Kalighat on Tuesday afternoon and after that everything will unfold before all", he added.
The BJP MLA distanced himself from the state leadership after he tried to raise his voice against the alleged lapses in the party. Das claimed that he was once silenced by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb when he tried to vent his anger against the state leadership in a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Since then, Das was, purportedly, sidelined in the party and left in the lurch.
Snubbed Das later joined the dissident camp of MLAs led by BJP MLA Sudip Roy Barman but it could not make much difference. They camped at Delhi for quite a long time and met a number of senior leaders whom they apprised of their grievances. The legislators hoped that the top leadership would take a call in favour of them but in vain.
In the meantime, Das addressed a number of pressers expressing his sharp resentment over the party's state of affairs. He was seen firing salvos time and again against Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb but neither Deb nor the ruling BJP spoke anything about the dissidence maintaining a conspicuous silence over the issue.
Also see: West Bengal bypolls: TMC supporters cheer as Mamata Banerjee leads
Political observers said Das had reached the point of no return. "He knows that the BJP will never give him a ticket. And, his politics has always been against the Left. So, TMC is the only and best option left before him. Now, what sort of gains he can achieve by jumping the ship depends on his political luck," said a senior political commentator.
