Defection continues in Bengal as Mamata cancels her plan to attend PM’s swearing in ceremony

KOLKATA: The defection from Trinamool Congress to BJP continues as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled her plans to attend the swearing in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even though Banerjee cites BJP ‘s “politicisation” of victims of violence in Bengal as a reason to not attend the programme, party insiders claim Didi also need to be in the state for the time being to get the house in order first.

In the last 48 hours, a group of three TMC and one CPM MLAs along with more than 50 councillors from Barrackpore and some important leaders of Trinamool Congress from Birbhum joined BJP. The party’s supremo seems to be busy in putting her cadre base intact, though the continuous rumbling in the party appears to have disturbed her.

Banerjee had, on Tuesday, said she planned to attend the event as a “Constitutional duty”. However, hours later, she put out a tweet alleging that the occasion was being “politicised” and “devalued”.


“The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party,” she tweeted.