More trouble for Mamata Banerjee as another Trinamool Congress MLA, 12 councillors join BJP

In a fresh jolt to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Biswajit Das, along with 12 party councillors have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Das joined the BJP inthe presence of senior party leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy in the national capital.

On Monday, TMC MLA Sunil Singh along with 15 party councillors had joined the Saffron party.

Reacting to the crossover of TMC MLAs and councillors to BJP, Mamata on Tuesday said she doesn't want thieves in the party. "TMC is not a weak party. I don't care if 15-20 councillors leave the party after accepting cash. If party MLAs want to leave they can. We don't want thieves in our party. If one person leaves I will prepare 500 more," she said.

Furthermore, she also wrote a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and informed him that she will be unable to attend the meeting of Presidents of all political parties, called by the Prime Minister.

In Lok Sabha polls 2019, BJP inflicted a massive blow to the ruling TMC by winning 18 of the 42 parliamentary constituencies, in contrast with the figure of 2 seats in the 2014 general elections.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC although retained the state, it won just 22 seats, as against 34 in 2014.

(With inputs from agencies)