New Delhi: Two term Rajya Sabha member and senior BJP leader Chandan Mitra joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in a programme in Kolkata on Saturday. He joined the TMC along with four Congress MLAs at party’s rally to mark Martyrs’ Day – to commemorate the 1993 Kolkata firing – outside Victoria House in the heart of Kolkata.
Mitra was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from August 2003 to 2009. In June 2010, he was elected to the upper house from Madhya Pradesh on BJP nomination. His term ended in 2016 and was replaced by MJ Akbar.
Considered close to veteran BJP leader LK Advani, his political stock within the party plunged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and he was left with little organisational responsibility.
He was fielded as the party’s candidate from Hooghly in West Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and came a distant third.
In the recent past, despite being a prominent face of the BJP in Delhi circles, he was witnessed only defending the party on crucial issues. Of late, Mitra had started criticising the party. When the BJP was defeated in the Kairana bypoll in May this year, Mitra was quoted as saying that the party did not pay adequate attention to the issue of sugarcane farmers. Terming the defeat as a serious setback, Mitra told that the BJP would have a serious fight on its hands in the run-up to the 2019 general elections if the Opposition unites.
Mitra had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 17 July. Although there were rumours in political circles that the two-time Rajya Sabha MP was likely to join TMC, Mitra was tight-lipped about the speculation. “I have given my resignation, but I have not decided whom I will join, or when. I am not going to disclose that,” he had told.
Mitra was believed to have been unhappy for being sidelined after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah tightened their hold on the party and its decisions. The former Rajya Sabha MP made his displeasure evident on a number of occasions as he has not held back from criticising the BJP.
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