NCPI-BJP switch sparks buzz
Many TMC MPs who had left the party and joined the Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI), after the West Bengal Assembly elections early this year, are likely to join the BJP, rebel TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia said on Monday. A claim soon dismissed by the rebel leaders and the State BJP.
“Out of the 20 MPs — who had come out of the TMC and joined the NCPI, a registered but unrecognised party — 17 have now decided to join the BJP, maybe before or after the Durga Pujas. This means 17 MPs together make the (two-third) quorum to bypass the anti-defection laws,” Basunia said. His house and party office in Cooch Behar was attacked by alleged BJP cadres recently.
“The remaining three MPs — Abu Taher, Yusuf Pathan and Khallilur Rehman — would not join the BJP directly but would anyway support the NDA, remaining a part of because they come from a minority area,” he added.
Incidentally, Taher had a few weeks ago been shown black flag during his visit to Murshidabad for leaving the TMC.
Soon after the statement, Taher said he had not given Basunia any right to talk on his behalf. “I have not asked anyone to talk on my behalf and if anyone has done so it is for him to explain,” he said when asked about Basunia’s comments.
Similarly, another senior NCPI MP Shatabdi Roy said Basunia had “made this comment in his personal capacity ... Since all the decisions thus far has been taken collectively by all of us, any decision in future will be taken in a similar manner and made known.”
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, in his part, said that he was not aware of any decision regarding the NCPI joining the BJP. “The BJP will not take anyone because he wants to join it ... As a disciplined party, the BJP has its own rules and ways ... It will function accordingly,” Bhattacharya said. “I think no one from the NCPI or TMC is joining the BJP as of now,” he added.
Bhattacharya’s voice was echoed by party spokesperson Debjit Sarkar, who said that many people were queuing up to join the BJP, “But that does not mean that everyone will have to be inducted in the party,” he said.
“As he and his house and property had been under continuous attack from the BJP workers in Cooch Behar, he may have tried to neutralise them by making the joining statement ... We understand his compulsion but for now we are not taking him or any other TMC men,” a BJP local leader in Cooch Behar said.
