TMC hints more Ghar Wapsi; 'BJP's 7-8 MLAs, 3 MPs in touch,' claims Kunal Ghosh

Amid the escalating tussle between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition BJP in West Bengal, TMC General Secretary Kunal Ghosh has said more than 10 MLAs and MPs combined, who switched to BJP ahead of assembly elections, are waiting for an opportunity to rejoin TMC. Speaking with ANI, Ghosh stated that the leaders from TMC who joined BJP are not interested in continuing with the BJP.

"Many leaders are in our touch but the final call will be taken by Mamata Banerjee. At least 7 to 8 BJP MLAs and 3 BJP MPs are keeping good communication with TMC leadership," Kunal Ghosh said.

More BJP leaders to jump ship?

There have been speculations that more BJP members are likely to join TMC as BJP leader Rajib Banerjee's meeting with Kunal Ghosh on Saturday, June 12, inflated speculations of him rejoining TMC. Rajib Banerjee's meeting with Kunal Ghosh occurred a day after National Vice president of BJP Mukul Roy left BJP and rejoined TMC in the last week. 

Also, on Sunday, June 13, Rajib Banerjee visited the residence of TMC leader Partha Chatterjee whose mother passed away in Kolkata. Rajib Banerjee has called it a "courtesy visit" and "nothing to do with politics". He said he still in BJP while also airing grouse that he has some differences with the BJP based on personal principles.

Rajib Banerjee skipped a key BJP party meeting on June 8 leading to speculations of him joining TMC soon. A similar pattern of quit BJP and rejoin TMC was observed in Mukul Roy's TMC Ghar Wapsi situation too, as he was absent at an important organizational meeting of the BJP while maintaining silence in the post-poll violence.

Kunal Ghosh slams Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

Kunal Gosh lambasted State Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who has been regularly flagging the issue of post-poll violence in West Bengal. Taking a dig at the governor, the TMC leader said Governor is acting like a BJP President and Raj Bhavan has become a BJP office. He also claimed that BJP is not accepting the defeat and the mandate of the people and attempting to find a backdoor entry with Article 355 or 356.

Kunal Ghosh's criticisms of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar comes as the latter is on a visit to Delhi against the wishes of the state government. Governor Dhankhar met President Ramnath Kovind on Thursday.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar flags post-poll violence in West Bengal

BJP in West Bengal and Governor Dhankhar have been constantly raising voices against the alleged post-poll violence in the state. On June 15, the Governor had also written a letter to CM Mamata Banerjee asking her to break silence on the unabated violence in the state that began as the election results were underway on May 2. 

In his letter to Mamata Banerjee, Governor Dhankhar said, "In spite of your (Mamata Banerjee) attention having been drawn to the enormity of the situation, a huge exodus of people in search of cover for life and destruction of property worth crores, there has only been stunning silence at your end and you did not deem it necessary to even deliberate this grave human tragedy in any of the Cabinet Meetings so far."

"Your studied silence coupled with the absence of any steps to engage in rehabilitation and compensation to alleviate the unimaginable sufferings of people, force an inevitable conclusion that all this was state-driven. Your stance is plunging vast suffering populace in a state of hopelessness and helplessness. Such punitive decimation of human rights and dignity shames democracy," he further stated while questioning her "how can people be made to suffer for exercising the right to vote in a democracy?"

Post poll violence in West Bengal

In the wake of the post-poll violence in the state, two women moved the Supreme Court to seek SIT probe into incidents of violence and gang rape after the election results. In their pleas before the apex court, the women said they were gang-raped by members of the ruling Trinamool Congress. 

One of the two women, a 60-year-old alleged that she was gang-raped in front of her six-year-old grandson, while her daughter-in-law was beaten up. She alleged that a mob of around 100-200 TMC supporters had on May 3 surrounded her house and threatened the family to leave. Another woman, a 17-year-old said she was allegedly raped while on her way back from school. She also claimed that while the crime was committed, the assailants allegedly said, "We'll teach you a lesson for supporting BJP."

Hundreds of people who supported the BJP in the elections were forced to flee the state, taking refuge in Assam, while properties and residence of several BJP workers had been demolished and vandalised in the post-poll violence. West Bengal witnessed massive political violence after the election result trends gave an indication of TMC's landslide victory. BJP has claimed its grassroots workers have been killed by "TMC Goons". There have been widespread incidents of vandalism, rioting and even violent attacks on women workers, as stated by BJP.