Another former stalwart of Trinamool Dinesh Trivedi joins BJP

Prominent West Bengal leader Dinesh Trivedi, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha and Trinamool Congress last month, joined the BJP on Saturday in the presence of party chief JP Nadda.

“This was the golden moment I had been waiting for,” Trivedi said after joining the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Welcoming him, Nadda said Trivedi was “right person in the wrong party; now he is in right party”.

Trivedi resigned his Rajya Sabha and Trinamool membership on February 12, saying he was feeling “suffocated” because of violence in West Bengal and his inability to do anything about it.

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“I am resigning from Rajya Sabha…there is violence happening in my state. We can’t speak anything here,” Trivedi had said while announcing his resignation on the floor of the House.

Later he had told PTI: “In Bengal, we talk about icons and their ideals but what we see is contrary. The (TMC) model of violence and corruption is not what Bengal stands for. This model will take Bengal to dark days. The state has so much potential and we can’t just let it go waste.”

Trivedi is the latest addition to a long list of former Trinamool members who have in recent weeks joined the BJP. Prominent among those who have switched from Trinamool to the BJP are Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee.

Also read: In Bengal pre-poll drama, Trinamool MLA returns day after quitting party

There is a political buzz already about Trinamool’s former Rajya Sabha MP, actor Mithun Chakraborty joining the saffron party. The actor is likely to be present at Prime Minister Modi’s Kolkata rally on Sunday (March 7).

The eight-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal will be held from March 27 to April 29. The results will be declared on May 2.