Setback for BJP ahead of bypoll, ex-minister Babul Supriyo joins TMC

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 18

In a setback to the BJP in West Bengal before the high-profile Bhabanipur bypoll, Lok Sabha MP and ex-Union Minister Babul Supriyo today joined the Trinamool.

Supriyo told the media in Kolkata he decided to join the TMC so that he could work effectively for the people of the state. He said for inexplicable reasons, the work he was doing as a BJP representative had “come to a stop”.

“It all took place during the last three to four days,” the MP said. Supriyo won successive Lok Sabha elections from Asansol in 2014 and 2019 as a BJP nominee. He lost to TMC’s Aroop Biswas at Tollygunge in the recent Assembly elections and was dropped from the Union Cabinet during the last rejig on July 7.

Excited to join trinamool

Extremely excited to be part of Mamata Banerjee-led party... will work hard for Bengal’s progress. —Babul Supriyo, LS MP

An upset Supriyo had announced on Facebook that he would quit politics and resign from the Lok Sabha. He later said he was persuaded against quitting by senior BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah.

Asked if he would quit as BJP MP, Supriyo said he would follow the rulebook. Sources say he may be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha, where a vacancy has arisen after the resignation by TMC MP Arpita Ghosh on Wednesday.