Kolkata: In a new twist to Bengal’s rapidly developing political changes, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bishnupur MP and youth wing chief Saumitra Khan’s wife joined Mamata Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Monday afternoon.This came as a surprise as Sujata Mondal Khan had been very active in the BJP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it was she who led her husband’s campaign, as Saumitra was barred by the court from entering six of the seven assembly segments within his parliamentary constituency due to ongoing investigations into criminal cases allegedly involving him.Saumitra, who had served as the TMC youth wing president for about six months, was a sitting TMC MP when he joined the BJP in January 2019, bagged the BJP ticket from the same constituency and defeated the TMC candidate.On Monday, Sujata Mondal Khan blasted the BJP leadership for enticing TMC leaders with prominent posts.“Those who shed their sweat and blood for the party in its tough time are not being rewarded, while the opportunist fence-sitters from the TMC are being enticed with prime positions, including chief ministership and deputy chief ministership. There are six chief ministerial candidates already and 13 deputy chief ministers,” she said, while addressing the media at the TMC state unit headquarters.She sat beside TMC Lok Sabha MP Sougata Roy, and took digs at Suvendu Adhikari, the former TMC heavyweight who recently joined the BJP and received a grand welcome.“How is it possible that all rotten elements from the TMC are getting purified once they enter the BJP? The BJP has become the B-team of the TMC and therefore I decided to work with the TMC rather than its B-team,” she said, adding that she hopes someday her husband will follow her as well.It appeared that her move was unknown even to the MP, as Saumitra Khan hurriedly held a press conference and said he would be filing for divorce on Tuesday. He urged her to sign the papers so that the separation could take place mutually.Also read: Will the TMC Be Badly Hit by Desertions to the BJP?“The TMC played very unfairly. They broke my home,” Saumitra said. “She wanted posts in the party but there is no dynasty politics in the BJP. There is no denying her contributions behind my victory but it was not she alone, the BJP’s organisation and Prime Minister Modi’s name sealed my victory.”“You could have remained happy with being the MP’s wife. It’s true I could not give you time for the last few months. I wish you the best in pursuing your aspirations. I have no more baggage. I will give my full time to the party,” he said.Not a one-offSujata’s case, however, is not a one-off instance of internal dissension in the BJP over the newcomers in the party.A few hours before she appeared at the TMC’s state unit office in Kolkata, BJP old-timers and newcomers got involved in a scuffle in Durgapur of West Burdwan district, just before the party’s state unit chief Dilip Ghosh was to induct new members to the party at a Jogdaan Mela (joining festival).“All corrupt and rotten people are joining the party from the TMC. They will enjoy importance and we, who fought it out in the TMC for so long, will have to become backbenchers,” a man who identified himself as the president of the BJP’s ward no. 13 of Durgapur told TV channels.Earlier last week, when rumours spread that the TMC’s West Burdwan district unit president and Pandaveshwar MLA-cum-Asansol’s outgoing mayor Jitendra Tiwari was going to join the BJP along with Suvendu Adhikari, Union minister and Asansol MP Babul Supriyo publicly expressed his objections. He received the backing of Dilip Ghosh, too.Tiwari, who had held a meeting with Adhikari, defying Mamata Banerjee, and resigned from all TMC posts, sulked and said he would seek her forgiveness.Protests have broken out among BJP workers in Bishnupur (Bankura district) against the induction of former TMC minister and municipal chairman Syamaprasad Mukherjee; at different places in Alipurduar against the induction of former TMC MP Dasharath Tirkey; and in Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri district against the induction of sitting TMC MLA Sukra Munda.In Alipurduar, BJP workers even burnt an effigy of Tirkey and at another place his photo was garlanded with shoes.Last week, posters and banners also emerged at Gaighata in North 24-Parganas districts, where two controversial and influential TMC leaders have recently quit the party and are expected to join the BJP. The posters, put up in the name of ‘original BJP workers’, accused the party of inducting corrupt leaders with bad reputations.Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a leader from the BJP’s Malda district unit said there are apprehensions among a section of BJP old-timers in the district that they might have to accept some TMC leaders in senior positions.“A few days ago, state unit president Dilip Ghosh told the district leadership that we will have to prepare to accommodate more leaders from the TMC. Since then, a section of our district-level leaders and workers are anxious,” the leader said.Also read: Three IPS Officers Are the Latest Pawns in the Old Proxy War Between BJP and TMCGhosh downplayed such grievances. “We believe that a large family is a happy family. We’ll have to broaden our hearts to welcome those deciding to join the battle to unseat the Mamata Banerjee government. Minor differences will be sorted out,” he said.A BJP state unit leader said that the party’s national president, Jagat Prakash Nadda, has already cautioned the state leadership of possible rebellion.“Newcomers like Saumitra Khan, Arjun Singh and Nishith Pramanik won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while old-timers like Rahul Sinha and Samik Bhattacharya lost. There is no way this internal dissent can stop us from inducting more heavyweights from the TMC,” said a BJP Lok Sabha MP.A TMC leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the party would be happy to exploit differences in the BJP. “Just like they are trying to exploit grievances within our party to engineer defections, we too would closely watch the reaction of BJP leaders about inducting our leaders with the promise of prominent posts,” the TMC leader said.Another TMC leader said that the case of Jitendra Tiwari has prompted some TMC leaders, who were considering switching camps, to think twice.Meanwhile, TMC state unit spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya wrote on Facebook that two BJP MPs were expected to join the TMC, a claim that the BJP alleged was a ploy to spread rumours.Political observer Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, a former principal of Kolkata’s Presidency College, however, feels that the BJP should be able to manage the internal dissension.“I think the BJP’s top leadership is aware of this likely trouble and they must have planned measures,” Mukhopadhyay said.The BJP has inducted a significant number of the TMC’s state- and district-level leaders over the past two years, and those who joined the saffron party from the TMC are, in many cases, enjoying important positions in the BJP.Snigdhendu Bhattacharya is a journalist and author based in Kolkata.
