Jaideep Nandi returns to TMC from BJP

Among others who joined include Dindayal Singha, the Siliguri branch president of BJP’s Kishan Morcha, Nanda Prasad Roy, the BJP convener of Phansidewa block, and Dipankar Paul, secretary of BJP’s Siliguri unit

Trinamul leader Gautam Deb and others welcome the new entrants in Siliguri on Saturday. : Passang Yolmo

TT Correspondent   |   Siliguri   |  31.10.21: A group of leaders from the BJP joined the Trinamul with their supporters here on Saturday.

Former state minister and veteran Trinamul leader Gautam Deb along with Papiya Ghosh, the Darjeeling (plains) district president, welcomed them into the party at a function held at the district office.

Among those who joined the TMC include Jaideep Nandi, a former councillor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation and a prominent political face of New Jalpaiguri area, who had defected to the BJP last year and was made the party’s district vice-president.

“It is like a homecoming for me. As I have always followed the Trinamul’s ideology, I found it missing in the BJP and could not continue there,” he said.

His decision came a day after he resigned from his post and the primary membership of the BJP.

Among others who switched over to Mamata Banerjee’s party from the saffron camp include Dindayal Singha, the Siliguri branch president of BJP’s Kishan Morcha, Nanda Prasad Roy, the BJP convener of Phansidewa block, and Dipankar Paul, secretary of BJP’s Siliguri unit.

“During the past couple of weeks, the BJP leaders were in touch with us and wanted to join the Trinamul. We consulted with our senior leaders and workers functioning at different levels and decided to induct them into the party. Along with them, hundreds of BJP supporters have also joined the Trinamul,” Ghosh said.

At the induction programme, Deb and some other leaders came up with a clarification about a seven-member committee that the party had announced on Friday.

The committee was formed to oversee political activities across Siliguri Municipal Corporation areas before and during the civic polls, party leaders had said.

The announcement had led to repercussions within the party and also in the local political arena as the committee did not have senior leaders like Deb and former district president Ranjan Sarkar in it.

On Saturday, the Trinamul made an attempt to control the damage. “I would like to clarify that a seven-member monitoring cell has been formed to look after the activities of our booth-level workers across the civic area. It has nothing to do with civic poll preparation or campaign,” Deb said.

“The party will take care of these issues and will draw appropriate plans in due course,” he said.

The bodies of Subrata Bhattacharya, 61, and his wife Runa, 55, who died in a road mishap in Uttarakhand on Wednesday, arrive at their home in Durgapur town on Saturday. The mortal remains of five tourists, including three women killed in the accident, reached their respective homes on Saturday. State law minister Moloy Ghatak accompanied the bodies after they arrived at Calcutta airport from Delhi in the morning. The bodies of Kishor Ghatak, 59, and Chandana Khan, 64, were taken to their homes in Raniganj. The body of Srabani Chakraborty, 55, was taken to her home in Asansol town. Citu leaders of West Burdwan received the body of their leader Ghatak. Local Trinamul MLA Tapas Banerjee also paid a floral tribute.

Report by Abhijeet Chatterjee, picture by Anusuya Sinha

(https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/jaideep-nandi-returns-to-tmc-from-bjp/cid/1836668)