Senior TMC leader in Tripura joins Congress ahead of polls

Trinamool Congress in Tripura got a setback when its state general secretary switched over to Congress saying that the Mamta Banerjee-led party was helping the BJP.

Baptu Chakraborty and a few other Trinamool workers joined Congress at Agartala in the presence of Congress MLA, Sudip Roy Barman, among others, on Sunday. He said that he did not want to waste time in TMC as Congress was emerging as the alternative in Tripura ahead of the Assembly elections slated for early next year.

Chakraborty was in Congress earlier but joined TMC after Mamta Banerjee-led party's victory in Bengal elections last year. He was soon made TMC's state general secretary.

"I considered TMC to be an alternative to BJP but the party's recent activities have proved that it is helping BJP. It also helped BJP by abstaining from the vice-president elections," Chakraborty told reporters.

The development comes months before Tripura goes for Assembly elections early next year. TMC had set its target to unseat BJP in Tripura in 2023 but its poor show in the by-polls in June left many workers disappointed. Left parties and Congress are now seen as the main opponents. Congress gained strength after senior leader and MLA, Sudip Roy Barman quit BJP and joined it in February this year. Roy Barman was re-elected to the Assembly as a Congress MLA in the by-polls held in June.

Trinamool leaders in Tripura, however, downplayed the development saying that Chakraborty is not a big leader in state politics. TMC on Monday named presidents, vice-presidents, general secretaries and other office bearers of its state and district Scheduled Caste (SC) cells.