Several Ministers of Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet Are Ready to Switch to BJP: Saumitra Khan
Calcutta:
With voices of dissent in the TMC increasingly high-pitched, BJP MP Saumitra Khan scoffed at the ruling dispensation on Sunday, claiming the governor could soon ask West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, to demonstrate her majority in the Assembly.
The TMC, for its part, said that the BJP leaders have no respect for democracy.
Khan, who is also the state president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), said on the sidelines of a program in Jalpaiguri that the current turmoil and the discontent that is brewing in the ruling party has raised the question of whether the party still it is supported by an adequate number of legislators in the House.
“From the way the MLAs have been dissenting and leaving Trinamool, the governor may suddenly ask the CM to prove the majority … There is a possibility,” Khan said.
Several cabinet ministers from Mamata Banerjee are ready to move to the BJP, he claimed.
In reaction to Khan’s comments, veteran TMC MP Sougata Roy said that BJP leaders like him know nothing about the Constitution and its provisions.
“How could Khan know first-hand that the governor will take such an unconstitutional move? An elected government cannot be treated this way … and the overwhelming majority of MLAs are with the prime minister. The TMC has the support. out of 218 legislators in the Assembly, “said Mr. Roy.
The ruling TMC in Bengal had gone to great lengths to keep his flock together, as several key leaders, including party heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, have lately openly voiced their grievance against the dispensation.
According to BJP state chair Dilip Ghosh, the TMC lacks the courage to oust Adhikari, who recently resigned from the state cabinet, as “the party fears that he may face extinction soon.
Ghosh also alleged that ruling party leaders, who had hardly ever left their homes and offices, are now “forced” to venture out to get a sense of the realities on the ground, ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
“The month of December seems crucial for TMC as the party faces extinction with people abandoning ship. TMC has no courage to expel anyone. It has not been able to expel Suvendu Adhikari,” Ghosh said.
The Mamata Banerjee party also did little to address the problems of lawmaker Mihir Goswami, who recently joined the BJP, the BJP state chief said, adding that more such developments are likely to occur in the coming days.
Elections for the 294-member Bengal Assembly are likely to take place between April and May next year.
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