tmc-leaders-arjun-singh-dibyendu-adhikari-jumped-ship-to-join-bjp

Two sitting parliamentarians from the Trinamool Congress — Barrackpur MP Arjun Singh and Tamluk MP Dibyendu Adhikari — joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday.

Arjun Singh, who had earlier joined the BJP in 2019 after quitting TMC and defeated the then-TMC candidate on the Barrackpore seat, returned to TMC again in 2022 even when he remained a BJP MP on Parliament record.

He announced that he was leaving the TMC days after being dropped from the TMC’s list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.

“After I became the MP from BJP, the way post-poll political violence happened in West Bengal, our area was the worst-hit. I was tolerating atrocities on myself, but to save the workers, I had to keep some distance from the party (BJP) for some days,” Arjun Singh said after joining the party.

Tamluk MP Dibyendu Adhikari, brother of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, also joined the BJP.

BJP leaders Dushyant Gautam and Amit Malviya were present as the two MPs joined the BJP.