Miffed at being denied ticket, TMC's Arjun Singh hints at rejoining BJP

After being denied ticket, the TMC leader has vowed to enter the poll fray from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat against party's official candidate Partha Bhowmik.

Kolkata: A day after finding himself out of favours from the TMC top brass for a ticket to contest the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, disgruntled leader Arjun Singh on Tuesday said he felt "betrayed" and left enough hints for his willingness to cross over to the BJP yet again.

Vowing to enter the poll fray on his home turf against the TMC candidate Partha Bhowmik, Singh argued he could not "let down the collective wishes of the voters of Barrackpore who had sent him to the Lok Sabha in 2019 as a BJP candidate".

In a significant gesture, Singh removed the photos of TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee from his office chamber on Tuesday and subsequently replaced them with photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also countered Mamata Banerjee's political stand on CAA and stated, "I thank Modiji and Amit Shahji for fulfilling the dreams of the persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries who were forced to flee their birthplace and giving them citizenship rights."

"Those who are opposing such a landmark decision are doing it for political reasons," he added.

Singh, who defected back to TMC in 2022 but retained his MP status, told reporters that his exclusion from the party's candidate list was "a shocking betrayal which felt like slashing the throat from back."

Following a similar turn of events back in 2019, Singh had quit the TMC to trump the party's then candidate Dinesh Trivedi in Barrackpore on a BJP ticket. While jumping back to his former party three years later, he had called his BJP association a "mistake".

Asked if he would contest as an independent candidate this time, Singh said, "I want to contest on behalf of a major political party. I wasted my time with the TMC. They dumped me like a waste product even though I took part in every activity of the party."

Singh confirmed that he was contacted by TMC leaders following his exclusion from the party's candidate list announced from the Brigade Parade Ground rally in Kolkata on Sunday.

"Senior party leader Firhad Hakim and my long-time friend Partha Bhowmick had contacted me and held long conversations over the phone. They promised I would be suitably accommodated. But I want no such thing. I don't want a role in state politics after being denied a chance to serve the people in Parliament."

BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, "The decision to allow Arjun Singh's return to our party will be decided by our central leadership."

"All I can say is that the door of BJP may be closed for him but not bolted from inside. It can be opened with a gentle push," Bhattacharya added.

Confirming his talks with Singh, state minister Firhad Hakim said, "I have requested Arjun to refrain from taking any steps which could complicate matters further. I have conveyed to him my supremo's promise that he will be appropriately compensated in accordance with his stature and profile. The ball is now in his court."

Bhowmik, who is scheduled to meet Singh over tea sometime soon said, "I urge him to not go back to BJP as such frequent jumps do not go down well with the electorate."