Dakshin Dinajpur leader returns to TMC from BJP

Kolkata: Trinamool’s former Dakshin Dinajpur president Biplab Mitra, who joined BJP a year ago following differences with thespian-turned-politician Arpita Ghosh, returned to the party fold on Friday along with his brother Prasanta.
Mitra’s homecoming took place in Kolkata in presence of Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee and Ghosh, the former district president.“It is like coming back home,” Mitra said while taking the Trinamool flag from Chatterjee. In Balurghat, Trinamool supporters burst crackers and distributed sweets to mark his return.
A close confidant of Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, Mitra had played a key role in winning all six assembly seats in Dakshin Dinajpur in the 2011 assembly polls. The party had also established absolute sway over zilla parishad and municipalities in the district.
Things took a bad turn during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when Mitra openly opposed Ghosh’s candidature for the second time from Balurghat constituency. BJP won the Balurghat seat amid allegations of sabotage against Mitra. In a further blow to the veteran leader, Ghosh replaced him as district president.
Mitra quit Trinamool and joined BJP along with his followers in Mukul Roy’s presence in Delhi. Along with Mitra, many zilla parishad and Gangarampur Municipality members too took the BJP flag. But his BJP stint was short-lived because he was never given any major organizational responsibility. Worse, most of Mitra’s followers left him to return to their old party. Trinamool also regained the zilla parishad and Gangarampur Municipality.
For quite some time, Mitra had been expressing his wish to return to his close associates but was dithering as Ghosh was district president. His return path became smooth after Mitra loyalist Goutam Das replaced Ghosh as district president in the Trinamool organizational rejig last week.
While Mitra’s homecoming gave a boost to Trinamool workers ahead of assembly polls, BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar said the development would make little difference to the saffron party’s future in the district.
“Biplab Mitra dumped Trinamool a year ago protesting against Mamata Banerjee’s autocracy. I don’t know whether her autocracy has reduced. But BJP is a party in which individuals do not rule. Even Uma Bharti’s leaving the party could not harm BJP,” Majumdar said.