By PTI
KOLKATA: BJP MP Arjun Singh, who returned to the Trinamool Congress two days ago, on Tuesday asserted that many more people are eagerly waiting to jump ship like him.
Singh, who had left the TMC ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, also claimed that he is in touch with another BJP MP Saumitra Khan but only time will speak about his next move.
“Many people are waiting to join the TMC (from the BJP). Just wait and see what happens,” he told reporters.
Asked whether Khan, who too had switched over from TMC ahead of the last general election, will switch camps too, Singh replied, “Saumitra is like my younger brother. I won’t comment on it now. Do you want me to reveal everything today? Just wait and watch.”
Khan, however, denied the speculations fuelled by the Barrackpore MP but agreed that he shares a cordial relationship with Singh and a few other TMC MPs.
“I share good relations with TMC MPs such as Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Aparupa Poddar. But I want to say that I will join the TMC the day Abhishek Banerjee leaves the party. I have vowed never to work under Abhishek Banerjee,” Khan said.
Khan, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Bishnupur, had left the TMC over his differences with Abhishek Banerjee who was then the TMC youth wing president.
Reacting to Singh’s claims, BJP MP and state general secretary Locket Chatterjee claimed that TMC leaders are trying to create an atmosphere of mistrust in the party’s West Bengal unit.
“But we would like to clarify that if someone wants to leave the party, the person is free to do so. The door is open for opportunists to leave the party. We have the support of our dedicated grassroots workers,” she said.
TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh mocked Chatterjee by claiming that no leader will be left in the saffron camp if it dares to open its doors.
“In that case, the BJP will cease to exist in West Bengal,” Ghosh, also a state general secretary, said.
The state BJP unit has been fighting hard to keep its flock together after former union minister Babul Supriyo and five legislators, including its national vice-president Mukul Roy, switched over to the TMC since the assembly poll results were declared in May last year.
