The green expansion continues… Krishna Kalyani becomes the fifth BJP legislator to join TMC
Krishna Kalyani touted conspiracy against him by BJP as one of the most important reasons for jumping the ship
Krishna Kalyani becomes the fifth sitting BJP MLA to join the green brigade today at Kolkata in the presence of senior party leaders Partha Chatterjee and Vivek Gupta. Most voters are not amused or shocked at the joining as the legacy of switching parties is expected to continue.
Kalyani touted conspiracy against him as one of the most important reasons for jumping the ship. Like other fellow BJP MLAs who cakewalked to TMC, he too was tired of the anti-people policies of the saffron brigade.
Kalyani had quit BJP a day after being sent a show-cause notice for speaking against Bhartiya Janata Party MP Debasree Chaudhuri. He is a former industrialist. But he did not resign from Raiganj’s MLA seat yet.
Krishna Kalyani took just six months for Ghar Wapsi
Krishna Kalyani had joined BJP on January 2021, just three months ahead of state polls. And he decided to join the ruling party citing that his colleagues in BJP are hatching a conspiracy against him. “BJP only knows how to hatch a conspiracy. I have worked hard for the people but in turn, I was not informed about major decisions concerning my constituency,” he said.
When asked about the sudden change in decision after quitting the party earlier this month, he said that it is better to rectify your mistake in the shortest amount of time possible than continue with it. “It is better that I am not continuing with my mistake. Mamata Didi and TMC is people’s party. They have introduced schemes like Kanyasree and Swasthya Sathi for people’s benefit,” Kalyani said. However, the question remains that most of the schemes were announced way before the election and Kalyani still joined BJP.
Reacting to the news, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar has said in a televised interview that people of Raiganj will not forgive him and refrained from commenting on Kalyani’s statement about BJP leaders. Raiganj constituency belongs to the North Dinajpur district.
BJP is down 70 seats, and people are confused
With Krishna Kalyani joining TMC, the number of seats won by the saffron party has reduced to 70 from 77 seats in the state assembly polls.
Earlier, Krishnanagar MLA Mukul Roy, Bishnupur MLA Tanmay Ghosh, Bagdah MLA Biswajit Das and Kaliaganj MLA Soumen Roy joined the TMC. They are yet to resign from the assembly or would be disqualified under the anti-defection law.
Since the polls, the rampant defection of leaders from BJP to TMC has created confusion among voters about the democratic exercise. “It is confusing as people have cast their votes after selecting their candidates and the party. Now with BJP leader switching sides, it is difficult to judge the candidates in the upcoming election,” said Sankar, a voter of Bengal.
BJP had won 77 seats in the assembly elections. But two of the legislators later resigned to retain their MP seats. On the other hand, the green brigade had won 213 seats in the polls and bagged Samserganj and Janipur seats earlier this month in the bye-election. TMC now has 215 seats in the 294 seat assembly house.
