Ex-BJP cadres join Trinamul

TT, Siliguri, April 6: Two former BJP leaders, along with nearly 30 members of a ward committee of the party in Siliguri, joined Trinamul today, alleging corruption and alienation in the previous organisation.

The two leaders who joined Trinamul are Brij Kishore Singh, who had alleged that the BJP had demanded Rs 10 lakh from him for a party ticket to contest the elections to the Siliguri civic body and Ranjan Chakraborty, the former ward committee president of the organisation in ward 42.

The duo accepted the Trinamul flags from Darjeeling district president of the party and north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb.

"Being an active political worker, I felt that there was no point in staying in the BJP. Instead of listening to my grievances, the party fielded another candidate (in ward 42 of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation). The entire ward committee led by Ranjan Chakraborty backed me but for some reason or the other, the district and state BJP leaders did not budge from their decision. We felt it apt to join Trinamul and continue working for the people," Singh said after joining Trinamul today.

About 10 days back, Singh had alleged that Rathindra Bose, the Siliguri (organisational) district president of the BJP and Biswapriya Roychowdhury, the state general secretary of the party, had asked for a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from him.

"These two leaders have demanded Rs 10 lakh from me to grant me nomination as the BJP candidate in ward 42 of the SMC. My name was initially on the list of candidates announced by the BJP, but later, as I refused to pay the bribe, they withdrew my nomination and pitted someone else in ward 42," Singh had said.

Both Bose and Roychowdhury threatened to file defamation suits against Singh for raising charges of bribery.

Singh later filed papers to contest from ward 42 as a BJP candidate, but the nomination was rejected as the party didn't allot him the symbol. In the place of Singh, the BJP fielded Tashi Dorjee Lama, who had switched to the party from Trinamul, in ward 42. Singh was later expelled from the BJP.

Singh iterated his allegations of bribe demand today also.

Chakraborty, the former ward committee president, said today that he had been kept out of the decision making in the BJP.

"First of all, the district leaders did not bother to consult with us when they decided to remove Brij Kishore Singh from the candidates' list. Secondly, the new candidate, even after filing his nomination, did not contact us, though we ran the ward committee and carried out all activities of the BJP. We felt ignored and humiliated and found no reason to continue in the BJP. Trinamul is the only party where we can work with dignity," said Chakraborty.

He claimed that all members of the BJP's committee in ward 42 and 100 other supporters had also joined Trinamul. The BJP ward committee had 28 members, including Chakraborty, and they all had left the party last week.

Minister Deb said more BJP workers would join Trinamul in the days to come.

"Trinamul will use the experience of the former BJP workers. More such people will join our party...We are expecting victory in 35 seats," said Deb.

He said Trinamul's election manifesto for the SMC would be published before April 10.