AT Photo
Agartala, Jul 5: In a significant setback for the opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress, two senior leaders from both the parties joined BJP on Wednesday for being ignored for long.
Former Trinamool Congress Tripura Pradesh President Asish Lal Singh who also happens to be the son of Tripura’s first Chief Minister Sachindra Lal Singh and former Tripura Pradesh Congress state secretary Prasanta Bhattacharjee joined the BJP snapping their long association with the opposition camps.
Both the leaders slammed the lack of political will and wrong approach of their parties for the 2023 poll debacle. Ex TMC state president Asish Lal Singh said, “Trinamool Congress never showed respect to the people of Tripura.
Former Chief Minister of Tripura Sudhir Ranjan Majumder laid the foundation stone of Trinamool Congress in the state but he had never been shown the respect he deserved.
All the previous Trinamool state Congress chiefs like Surajit Datta and Ratan Chakraborty have quit the party because the TMC supremo does not even have five minutes time to listen to their grievances”. According to Singh, when Banerjee reached Tripura for the poll campaign she abstained from meeting the old party workers who stood loyal to the party even in the roughest weather. “There is a limit to everything.
Moreover, we are very impressed by the new Chief Minister and the development work that this government has carried out in the recent years. Many of them who joined today have fought elections on TMC tickets but they are no longer with TMC”, he added.
Former Congress leader Prasanta Bhattacharjee also expressed his sharp disappointment with the Congress’s present state of affairs and growing influence of “turncoat” MLA Sudip Roy Barman. “We have opposed the seat sharing pact between CPIM and Congress. It was against the fundamental political stand of Congress in the state.
But, for the personal interest of Mr Barman, the alliance was formed and eventually got defeated with a decisive margin”, he added. According to Bhattacharjee, Congress is in wheelchairs and without CPIM’s support it has no future in the state. BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee was present at the joining programme along with Minister Sushanta Chowdhury.