Agartala: Five senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura, including former state president Asish Lal Singh, son of former Tripura Chief Minister Sachindra Lal Singh, switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.
Besides the TMC, four other leaders belonging to the Congress party and CITU also joined the saffron party. The joining ceremony took place in the presence of Rajib Bhattacharya, president of BJP's Tripura unit, Sushanta Chowdhury, minister of sports and youth affairs, and Amit Rakshit, general secretary of the party.
Among the TMC leaders who joined the BJP include Asish Lal Singh, the former president of the state TMC, Koheli Das, the general secretary of the TMC and candidate for the assembly election, secretary of the TMC Krishankanta Debnath, Biswanath Ghosh and Swapandip Chakraborty.
Criticising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for neglecting TMC leaders and workers in Tripura, Asish Lal Singh, said, "Former Tripura Chief Minister Sudhir Ranjan Majumder played an important role and established the TMC in Tripura. But, Majumder was deeply disappointed when he had to wait for seven days just to meet Mamata Banerjee. But she did not meet him."
Several leaders, including candidates, were unable to meet Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Tripura. Whenever she visited Tripura, she never met with others. Why this was happening? Even during the recent election, she was in Tripura for two days, but she didn't meet anyone. It appeared that TMC was not taking the people of Tripura seriously, Singh added.
Explaining his decision to join the BJP, Singh, said, "We were impressed by the work of the BJP, the Chief Minister, and party president Rajib Bhattacharya, as well as other young leaders."
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