Member of Parliament from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, returned to Trinamool Congress on Sunday. Singh had quit TMC to join the Bharatiya Janata Party before the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
With this, Singh has become the latest entrant to the list of political leaders migrating to TMC, either as a returnee or by having quit their original one to join the ruling party. And the list of returnees includes some big names in West Bengal politics.
Observers and political analysts believe that the reason for this trend could be several: Assembly elections results that were in TMC’s favour, a section of supporters in the state BJP that are not in favour of members joining in from other parties, administrative investigations, or even an ‘emotional’ homecoming.
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One of TMC’s founding members, Mukul Roy, had quit the TMC to join the BJP in November 2017. After the Assembly election last year, however, Roy—also a former minister in the UPA government—and their son Subhranshu Roy were felicitated at the TMC office in June 2021 and welcomed back by the party.
In October 2021, TMC saw the return of Rajib Banerjee into its fold. Banerjee, a former state minister, had resigned from his post and the party in January that year to join BJP. Another TMC member, Sabyasachi Dutta, joined BJP in October 2019 but returned to TMC in October 2021. Dutta is a former state MLA, as well as the former mayor of Bidhannagar, adjoining Kolkata.
While these are some of the leaders returning to the Trinamool fold, there still are former TMC members in West Bengal’s BJP unit who used to be Trinamool’s strong representatives in their political domains. This includes Suvendu Adhikari, MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, former central minister Dinesh Trivedi, and the former mayor from Asansol, Jitendra Tiwari.
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While several of the Trinamool leaders had moved to the BJP around the elections, there has been a reversal this time. Besides accepting old-timers back into the party, the Trinamool has been accepting political leaders from other parties, including the BJP.
Former central minister Babul Supriyo in Narendra Modi’s government, and Shatrughan Sinha—who had quit the BJP to join Congress and recently contested the Lok Sabha by-election from Asansol as a Trinamool candidate—are the high-profile additions to Trinamool’s political cadre from other parties.
In the BJP, on the other hand, reportedly there is a section of old-timers that are unhappy over how things are being steered at the state level.
However, the 2021 Assembly polls have shown that the Trinamool, after a course correction, have succeeded in halting the BJP’s rise that had been expected after its mighty performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This past West Bengal Assembly election showed BJP being restricted to 77 seats in a house of 294.
In Bengal politics, this trend might be fortuitous for Trinamool and its supporters, but there remains the issue of dissent that would continue to aid Trinamool’s opponents. Even though the 2024 Lok Sabha elections looms ahead, it is too early to predict its outcome.
Political analyst Shikha Mukerjee states: “Arjun Singh’s return to the TMC was predictable. He has been voicing his unhappiness in the party. His exit doesn’t mean BJP is a spent force. The BJP has established roots in (the) state’s politics. It is not a party that’s going to evaporate. There is popular discontent against Trinamool, and political opponents, BJP, or the Left—if it stages a comeback—will encash it.”