Kolkata, July 11 (IANS) Five Trinamool Congress councillors of the Kanchrapara municipality in North 24 Parganas district – who had crossed over to the BJP after the Lok Sabha polls – returned to West Bengal’s ruling party on Thursday.
Two days after the chairman and a number of councilors of Halishahar municipality returned to the Trinamool after briefly flirting with the BJP, the Mamata Banerjee led party took another step in regaining the political turf in the district by roping in the quintet of Kanchrapara councillors.
These civic representatives had joined the BJP on May 28, resulting in the BJP capturing the board and beginning the exodus of Trinamool leaders and public representatives to the saffron outfit.
Welcoming the councilors back, state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim said the Trinamool now had 10 councilors in the 24-seat Kanchrapara municipality.
“Three more councilors are also coming to our fold, and that means a majority for us,” he said.
Hakim alleged that the councilors had been “threatened and coerced” by the “father-son duo” (BJP leader Mukul Roy and his MLA son Subhranghshu Roy) to take credit before BJP chief Amit Shah.
“Now everything has gone waste. Amit Shah will not give them any importance now. We are welcoming these councilors to our party from the core of our heart,” said Hakim.
However, BJP national General Secretary and West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged that the councilors were victims of “state-sponsored strong-arm tactics”.
“Anti-social elements were being sent to their houses. Police cases were filed against them. But at heart, they are still with BJP. In the coming days, a big Trinamool group would join BJP in protest against Trinamool’s autocracy,” he said.
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