Mukul sees BJP surge in tea belt

TT, 29 December 2017, Alipurduar: Mukul Roy on Friday claimed that many Trinamul leaders in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri were in touch with him, a day after key party figure Sikha Chatterjee joined the BJP.

Roy, who quit Trinamul and joined the BJP last month, said the BJP would bag more than half of Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and the Mamata Banerjee government would "lose majority the same year".

Roy was speaking Aipurduar, where he was accompanied by other BJP leaders like Samik Lahiri and Rupa Ganguly. Denied permission for a rally, they held small public meetings in various places.

Speaking at the BJP's Alipurduar office, Roy hinted at next year's rural polls. "Next year, the BJP will be in power in the Alipurduar Zila Parishad and in the Alipurduar Municipality. A large number of young people are in favour of the BJP. Many TMC leaders are in touch with me."

Later in the day, Roy visited some tea garden workers - a section the BJP is trying to win over - and Kalchini, the hometown of Alipurduar Trinamul chief Mohon Sharma. In Kalchini, most Morcha leaders had joined Trinamul in November, weakening the BJP in the region. The BJP and the Morcha are allies.

Sharma, the Alipurduar Trinamul chief, said: "The election results will make it clear. What Roy is saying is not important."

Roy's other stop was a closed garden, Madhu Tea Estate, where the workers urged him to take the initiative to reopen it as soon as possible. The BJP leader accused the state of not acting against the managements of closed gardens.