BJP faces another blow in West Bengal as 2-time MLA Sabyasachi Dutta returns to TMC fold

In another setback for BJP in West Bengal, Sabyasachi Dutta switched allegiance to TMC in the presence of Ministers Firhad Hakim and Partha Chatterjee on Thursday. Having won from the Rajarhat New Town Assembly constituency in the 2011 and 2016 elections, Dutta joined BJP in October 2019. He lost to TMC's Sujit Bose from Bidhannagar in the 2021 Assembly polls by a margin of 7997 votes. 

Speaking to the media after his induction, Sabyasachi Dutta remarked, "I had some disputes with one or two persons in the party (BJP) that's why I left it. Today, Didi (West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee) called me and asked me to come back home (TMC)". It is pertinent to note that BJP-turned-TMC leader Mukul Roy is his long-time political mentor. 

Responding to this development, Union MoS Home Nisith Pramanik stated, "Some people join another party for their personal ambitions but when they fail to achieve that, they return. It is quite common in politics. There is nothing unexpected in it". 

Defections to TMC

On May 2, TMC sprung a surprise by decisively winning the West Bengal Assembly election by bagging 213 seats whereas BJP could win in only 77 constituencies. Speculation about Mukul Roy's political future started doing the rounds after Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari pipped him to the Leader of the Opposition's post. An accused in the Narada sting operation case, Mukul Roy had resigned from TMC in September 2017 and joined BJP two months later.

While the then BJP national vice-president won the Krishnanagar Uttar seat in Nadia district, his son Subhrangshu who joined the party in May 2019 was defeated from the Bijpur seat from where he was the incumbent MLA. Thereafter, Roy's son stirred controversy after writing on social media that one should do self-introspection before criticising the government which has come to power with people's support. Finally, Roy and his son rejoined TMC in the presence of CM Mamata Banerjee and her nephew on June 11.

After a brief lull, Tanmoy Ghosh who won in Bishnupur on a BJP ticket switched allegiance to TMC on August 30. Biswajit Das and Soumen Roy, the sitting BJP legislators from Bagda and Kaliaganj respectively followed suit. Furthermore, rumour mills are abuzz about Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani's possible defection to the Mamata Banerjee-led party after he quit BJP on October 1. As Jagannath Sarkar and Nisith Pramanik chose to retain their Lok Sabha seats despite winning the Assembly polls, BJP's strength has now reduced to 70 seats.