Opposition leaders join Trinamool

BALURGHAT/KOLKATA: The day CPI(M) and Congress were sharing dais with Indian Secular Front (ISF) at Brigade Parade Ground and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan was holding Parivartan Ratha Yatra, leaders of all three political parties – Congress, CPI (M) and BJP – joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) at Uluberia in Howrah.

Joining of crucial leaders of the parties in the area took place within a few hours after the senior BJP leader Chauhan's rally passed through Jagatballavpur in Howrah. The joining also took place in the adjacent Hirapur village in Uluberia on Sunday evening.

Hirapur village often used to hit the headlines for political violence during the Left Front regime. In 2001, TMC leader Hafez Rashid Khan was murdered.

The former CPI (M) member of Hirapur Gram Panchayat Sumitra Manna, Local BJP leader Kalipada Mondal and Samad Molla of Congress joined TMC.

They joined the party by taking the flag from TMC MLA from Uluberia Dakshin Assembly constituency, Pulak Roy. All three of them stated that they had never witnessed such a massive overall development in their area before 2011.

Roy said: "More leaders and workers from BJP will join TMC soon."

Meanwhile, a veteran lawyer joined TMC in a programme in Balurghat on Monday evening in presence of party chairman and president of South Dinajpur unit Biplab Mitra and Goutam Das. Later Shekhar Das Gupta, the senior lawyer of Balurghat court was handed over the party flag by Mitra and Das.