Almost 20 months after he severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Trinamool Congress, Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh returned to the BJP on Friday. Dibyendu Adhikari, the Trinamool Congress MP from Tamluk in West Bengal and brother of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, also joined the BJP with Mr. Singh in New Delhi, in the presence of BJP leaders Amit Malviya and Dushyant Gautam.
While Mr. Singh’s return to the BJP was triggered by the Trinamool Congress denying him a ticket from Barrackpore and fielding West Bengal Minister Partha Bhowmick from the seat, Mr. Singh chose to rake up the law and order situation and the Sandeshkhali unrest to justify his return to the BJP.
“I had [earlier] distanced myself from the party (BJP) in the interest of my supporters who were at the receiving end of the violence after the post-poll violence in 2021,” Mr. Singh said. But, he said, he had found that the the Trinamool Congress was indifferent to the suffering of the people and only wanted to continue its regime using the help of the administration and “goons”.
