Denied ticket, Arjun Singh joins BJP

Kolkata: Arjun Singh, former Trinamool Congress MLA from Bhatpara in North 24-Parganas, joined BJP on Thursday, after being denied nomination for the Barrackpore seat.

Singh flew to Delhi on Wednesday and joined BJP at its headquarters in New Delhi in presence of party leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvargiya, who handed over the party flag to Singh. It may be recalled that Singh previously had a long-standing feud with Roy.

Reacting to Singh joining BJP, Trinamool Youth Congress president and party MP Abhishek Banerjee said: "His joining BJP will not be able to create any impact on the prospect of the party. Mamata Banerjee is our only leader and the people of Bengal trust her because of her integrity."

Meanwhile, senior Trinamool Congress leader and KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim said: "Those who have greed are free to go and join any party. It was Mamata Banerjee who made him chairman of a municipality and an MLA but Arjun had the aspiration of getting the ticket. I met him on Thursday. He did not say a word and joined BJP. The people will not forgive him."

Singh, a four time MLA, had expressed his desire to contest from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat. However, party supremo Mamata Banerjee nominated Dinesh Trivedi for the seat instead, for the third consecutive time. Earlier, she had held a meeting with Singh and made him the party Observer in Jharkhand.

On Wednesday, while holding a meeting all 42 nominees of Trinamool at Kalighat, Banerjee had said: "One or two will go to other parties. That will not affect our prospect."

It may be mentioned that the councillors of the Barrackpore constituency have brought a no-confidence motion against Singh.