Kolkata (West Bengal): Prior to the West Bengal assembly elections many Trinamool Congress leaders were feeling claustrophobic and hence flocked to the saffron camp one after another with the claim to work for the people.
During the campaign, Mamata Banerjee, again and again, described those who switched sides as traitors. But after the elections, she sent out a signal to those leaders to return to the Trinamool Congress.
Sonali Guha had appealed to Mamata Banerjee for a chance to return to the Trinamool Congress.
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Now the relevant question is whether other leaders who joined the BJP before the polls also adopt Guha’s path. Like Guha, the other deserters who have expressed their desires to return to the TMC include Sarala Murmu and Amal Acharya.
Trinamool Congress' spokesman, Kunal Ghosh has claimed that six more heavyweight Trinamool Congress leaders including MPs and MLAs have expressed similar desires. However, Ghosh refused to name them.
Political observers find such a tendency quite obvious. According to them, Guha broke down into tears after being denied nomination by Trinamool Congress. Similarly, Rajib Bandopadhyay broke down into tears after resigning as a legislator. Similarly, legislators like Probir Ghosal and Baishali Dalmia though expressed their anguish towards overall Trinamool leaders but did not utter a word against Mamata Banerjee.
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Guha had made it quite clear that joining BJP was a wrong decision on her part. While others have not directly made similar claims, they were all in praise of Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Avishek Banerjee.
Dalmia, on her part, has claimed that she is with BJP and will continue to be there. "I joined politics to serve the people. Even though I got defeated from the Bali assembly constituency this time, I am with the people there. I find no reason to go back to Trinamool. I was expelled from Trinamool. The BJP workers in the Bali constituency are homeless after the elections. I have given shelter to some of them," she said.
Rajib Bandopadhyay, on his part, has not made anything clear. Rather he is not willing to engage himself in any kind of political discussions right at this moment. "Right now, the time is for concentrating on the COVID-19 crisis," he said.
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According to sources, his wife has already contacted the chief minister soon after the election results were announced.
However, Kunal Ghosh has clearly said that the decision is yet to be taken on whether such leaders will be taken back to the party or not. “There can be grievances against the party. But deserting the party before elections is something unpardonable,” Ghosh said.
BJP’s state president, Dilip Ghosh is not worried about this trend. "Leaders like Sonali Guha, who joined BJP before polls had specific intentions. Now since those intentions were not fulfilled, they now want to go back to Trinamool. This will not have any effect on BJP. But from now onwards our leadership will be more cautious in giving entry from other parties,” he said.
